The problem investigated in this study was: What changes in the culturally disadvantaged pupils' oral language development will result when pupils are provided a program which includes daily verbal interaction with their teacher focused on a variety of pupils' experiences, interests and needs? The subjects of this study were randomly selected from…

Reports a survey of elementary and middle school teachers regarding behaviors they perceived as signalling a lack of communicative competence on the part of students. Results indicate, that from a teacher's point of view, communication competence involves a complex of behaviors including attitudinal/motivational, as well as cognitive dimensions.…

This study was undertaken to determine which verbal behaviors teachers value, where they acquired their verbal behaviors, and how they justify them. (JD)

This research study delineates some of the factors in classroom communication involved in the process of classroom interaction in the elementary schools and explores the psychological relevance of some matters brought up in ordinary language philosophy and modern linguistics. Samples of classroom speech were collected from twenty grade school…

To develop a system for making systematic observations of classroom communicative interaction, to provide guidelines for its utilization, and to suggest applications of this system to problems in the development of communication skills, 94 deaf children were directly observed in class interaction. An evaluation instrument was developed from the…

True learning requires that students "make meaning" for themselves, but the patterns of verbal behavior that prevail in secondary classrooms tend to stifle rather than facilitate this process. Excerpts from tape recordings of lessons in three secondary classrooms show that, whereas the teachers display great autonomy and control over what they…

The 13 articles collected in this volume address various aspects of verbal and nonverbal communication in the educational setting. Among the subjects discussed are research in verbal and nonverbal communication, sex differences and social-class differences in teacher/student communication behavior, communication processes in adult basic education…

The assumption that question-answer sequences consist of two moves was examined using data from recordings of second-grade classrooms in Austin, Texas. Interactions initiated by children's spontaneous questions in informal, small group settings were evaluated. Twenty-nine dialogue samples are presented and analyzed. Four issues in the study of…

As a botanist uses specific, non-judgmental descriptions that are part of a conceptual framework to help see different varieties and characteristics of plants, so teachers can see more clearly what they do if they describe rather than judge what is done. If the purpose of using a framework or model to discuss lesson presentations and classroom…

The rationale of the Observation Schedule and Record (OScAR) is described, and research is reported to show the extent to which the form fulfills its purposes. In order to provide objective, reliable, and valid information about the teaching process, this classroom observation schedule is used to record the frequency of occurrence of 42 teacher…

Six adult students of English as a second language were ranked according to individual input into classroom oral interaction. Four hypotheses were then tested, regarding correlation between degree of input generation on the one hand and achievement and performance on the other. It was found that: (1) high input generators (HIGs) performed better…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the relation between classroom communication and teacher personality; (2) a survey of speech programs in Texas community colleges; (3) improving student responses by training teachers…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 22 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: the rhetorical effectiveness of Senator Edmund S. Muskie's 1972 Presidential primary election campaign; persuasive speaking techniques of black college and…