This research examines students' use of African American English (AAE) in classrooms with varying levels of procedural and substantive engagement. In this study, classroom context is examined for type of engagement, turn length, and teacher response to student AAE use. Student AAE use is analyzed by ethnicity, gender, and teacher, and by features…

This paper examines the status-unequal requests of 89 advanced mixed-L1 learners and 87 British English native speakers elicited by a written discourse completion task. Significant differences were observed in all three dimensions analysed: internal and external modification, and perspective. The data demonstrate learners' overuse of zero marking…

This study examines verbal behavior in student-teacher talk and alignment of perceptions of communication effectiveness. Heightened awareness of conversational patterns is more productive in the learning environment than the rote use of discourse markers.

Studies on classroom interaction have typically focused on relationships between turn-taking patterns and some larger unit of analysis of varying length and nature. However, two questions still left unanswered are how teachers talk differently from students in general and how linguistic variation between two participants might relate to…

A framework for analyzing and evaluating classroom interaction is proposed that links the social and psychological purposes underlying the communication with resultant discourse in terms of patterns of interaction. (76 references) (JL)

Research findings: Language development subcontexts within 20 Head Start classrooms were studied by observing teachers' child-directed talk during free play, mealtime, and book reading. In each context, observers coded all child-directed statements, directives, and questions, noted instances of pretend talk and decontextualized talk, and rated the…

Analysis of adult English-as-a-Second-Language students' dialogue journal communication with their native speaking teacher found that 5 of the 12 conversations analyzed were reciprocal in most of the "move" (sharing of information or opinions unknown by the other) categories, but only 4 were reciprocal in initiating solicits, and only 1 extended…

Reports on student perceptions of classroom discourse, which includes speech between teacher and students as well as among peers. Students indicate both observations of frequency and value judgments. Responses are analyzed by their final course grade. Results are intended to guide future formal and informal observational studies on how relative…

Examined the discourse patterns of teachers from intensive English programs in the United States. Through examining the verbal interaction among teachers and students and focusing on teacher talk specifically, patterns and features were observed that helped facilitate productive interaction and contributed to moving students and teachers closer to…

Discusses an approach to analyzing teacher talk in second-language classrooms that assumes communicative classrooms are characterized by teacher talk reflecting external communication patterns. Argues that this analysis is over-simplistic, ignoring the reality of the classroom context and the features that make for effective communication within…

Transcripts of classroom interaction illustrate how emphasis on lesson planning and communicative activities in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher training, and dominance of a coursebook, had unintended consequences in three specific areas, leading to inhibition of teacher-student interaction, avoidance of genuine communicative…

A study investigated the features of discourse in the written student-teacher interaction in dialogue journals. It was assumed that such an activity would encourage the negotiation of meaning and roles, and that the data would provide evidence of that negotiation. Data were drawn from 32 journals written by 16-to-18-year-old students in an Italian…

Observation of reticent (N=7) and normal talkative (N=7) kindergarten students with their teachers during classroom "sharing time" indicated that reticent children engaged in less complex speech than their peers, speaking more often about objects in the "here and now," speaking about one topic at a turn, and speaking in shorter…

A study of dialogue journal interaction between an instructor of both deaf and hearing community college students revealed that the instructor individualized journal responses according to individual students' language comprehension ability, motivation, learning style, and interests. (CB) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

Examined the discourse patterns used by a native speaker of English while explaining the rules and playing the board game Monopoly with three college students of varying levels of English proficiency (low nonnative, good nonnative, and native). It found that the "teacher" must modify her speech to enable the nonnative speakers to…