Taking a dialogic approach, this edited book engages in analysis and description of dialogic discourse in a number of different educational contexts, from early childhood to tertiary, with an international team of contributors from Australia, Finland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The chapters focus mostly on dialogic face-to-face discourse,…

This edited volume brings together 10 cutting-edge empirical studies on the realities of English language learning, teaching and testing in a wide range of global contexts where English is an additional language. It covers three themes: learners' development of interactional competence, the organization of teaching and testing practices, and…

This volume sheds empirical light on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) by providing five sets of analyses of two longitudinal, interactional datasets, involving two dyads exchanging emails over one academic semester. The collective study on CDST is the first of its kind, in that it delves into multiple subsystems of learner language,…

Thirty-two subjects (5 Broca's, 7 conduction, and 10 anomic aphasics and 10 normal controls) performed story retell and procedural discourse tasks containing familiar and unfamiliar topics, with familiar and unfamiliar listeners. Results indicated that topic familiarity significantly influenced verbal output in both normal and aphasic subjects.…

If language research is to arrive at valid analyses of speech behavior, both observation and elicitation methods of data collection will have to be used as necessary complements to one another. The advantages and disadvantages of different research methods are discussed. (CB)

While traditional views of literacy assume that discourse is either written or oral, an alternative perspective considers different discourse samples as part of the linguistic repertoire of the speech community. Placing this perspective in a sociolinguistic context and taking language use rather than form as the starting point for analysis, it is…

The prepositional phrases used in free play discourse by 45 African American preschoolers from low-income homes were analyzed. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between amounts of African American English (AAE) form use and relational semantic complexity. No significant relationships were found between simpler…

A classroom-oriented therapeutic program was devised for four pragmatically impaired preschoolers who showed little spontaneous language use within the classroom. Intervention strategies focused on facilitating interactions during free play and were based on four principles for practitioners: be child-oriented; engineer the environment; use…

Explores the use of discourse anaphora in scientific abstracts and presents rules to be used for distinguishing anaphoric functioning of terms. The results of tests using these rules are reported, and the implications for natural language understanding, question answering, automatic extracting, query analysis, and bibliographic retrieval are…

In response to theories of learning that attempt to get rid of contents, two arguments are provided which suggest that it is theoretically disputable that knowledge develops along the same kind of process for biology and history, physics and mathematics, or the geometry of the triangle, and the geometry of space. The first is that empirical…

Examines the role of polemical discourse (heated and confrontational arguments often aimed at an opponent) in the early formation of the Christian church. Maintains that these linguistic habits still exert a powerful and often destructive influence. Discusses several biblical stories in terms of polemical discourse and offers alternative…

Noting that classroom communication is a central issue in school systems, because spoken language is the medium by which much teaching takes place, this book investigates classroom discourse within the framework of applied linguistics, and discusses research drawn from elementary, secondary and postsecondary classrooms. The first section deals…