In this article, we use grounded practical theory to develop a practical theory for using "difficult data" in Language and Social Interaction university classes. "Difficult data" are transcribed, audio/video-recorded data that contain language and ideologies that could be offensive, bigoted, or otherwise disturbing. We provide…

In this article, we examine the ways in which an ESL instructor constructs contextually relevant meanings through the synchronization of speech and gesture during unplanned vocabulary explanations. Video recorded data are analysed, with focus on an in-class homework review in which students demonstrated difficulty in comprehending several key…

Collaborative problem solving in computer-supported environments is of critical importance to the modern workforce. Coworkers or collaborators must be able to co-create and navigate a shared problem space using discourse and non-verbal cues. Analyzing this discourse can give insights into how consensus is reached and can estimate the depth of…

Automatic assessment of dialogic properties of classroom discourse would benefit several widespread classroom observation protocols. However, in classrooms with low incidences of dialogic discourse, assessment can be highly biased against detecting dialogic properties. In this paper, we present an approach to addressing this imbalanced class…

The goal of this article is to preserve and distribute the information presented at the LASI (2014) workshop on Coh-Metrix, a theoretically grounded, computational linguistics facility that analyzes texts on multiple levels of language and discourse. The workshop focused on the utility of Coh-Metrix in discourse theory and educational practice. We…

Teachers can reflect on and analyze their classroom discourse to inform their instructional practice. When teachers try to do so however, they often face analytic difficulties, which include the data set (e.g., data input, data transformation, and utterances by unknown speakers), coding (e.g., coding complexity, reliability, and efficiency),…

Early childhood educators teach science to all students, including students with disabilities. Strategies for accommodating students with disabilities in science, including familiarity with equitable frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are therefore a critical aspect of early childhood teacher candidates' pedagogical content…

The potential for computer-supported learning in educational contexts has opened up the possibilities for learners to interact in informal contexts outside the classroom. The context of the present research is a young American individual's vlog on YouTube sharing his experiences as a learner of French. This paper focuses on the potential use of…

Phenomenograhy, as an approach to educational research, began appearing in publications early in the 1980s with the predominant form of data drawn from semi-structured interviews. As a qualitative approach, it is used to describe the variations in people's experiences through their own discourse and for analyzing meaning that people ascribe to…

Most conversation analysis (CA) studies of the initiation-response-feedback (IRF; Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975) sequence have focused on teacher actions in the feedback move. In this article, I use CA to analyze student initiatives (Waring, 2011) within an IRF sequence in one excerpt from a Chinese as a foreign language class. The excerpt…

The objective of the study was to document and analyze the justifications given by federal institutions of the United States for governmental control of mathematics education as function of the achievement gaps (AGs) in mathematics. We wanted to shed light on the discourses made in the public arena that have legitimized this control and firmly…

Engaging teachers in discussing and analyzing problems of practice has great potential for teacher professional development, yet little is known about how to facilitate such discussion. This study examined the strategies that experienced facilitators used to promote productive discussion among science teachers. Participants were 6 facilitators and…

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States has increased dramatically. Given this increase it is vital for teacher education programs at the pre-service level and professional learning programs at eh in-service level to address the needs of ELLs. This article presents a teacher preparation model--"a language-based…

Introduction: Video games have proven to be a valuable resource to work different school subjects and topics. Beyond specific content, they could help to develop different abilities, like problem solving. However, not much has been studied on this topic, or many of the studies followed a perspective not entirely compatible with an educational…

In recent years there has been growing concern that the emphasis schools place on academic attainment has impacted negatively on children's mental well-being in the UK. In a bid to address society's growing concern for the mental well-being of children, the government has introduced policies into schools aimed at enhancing social and emotional…