This essay explores the metaphors of language and conversation as a way to connect thought and action in understanding teaching. The goal of the essay is to look more closely at the influence of context and situation on the conversation of teachers--not only a means of interaction, communication, and thought but also a type of relationship with…

Reading is best understood as a dialectic process where the influence of reader and text are constantly merging to create a jointly produced and evolving understanding. What occurs as the reader and text come together during reading is similar in form to a dialogue, a model for the reader-text relationship that has not been explored in the reader…

Although an important communication process, gossip rarely has been seriously studied. Distinct from rumor and self-disclosure, it can be defined as the communication process whereby information about another person's affairs or activities is disclosed and circulated in an exclusive manner in dyads. Some "functionalists" assert that…

Reviews factors affecting nonverbal expectancies and the consequences of violating them, comparing those consequences to other models (discrepancy-arousal, arousal-labeling, arousal-valence, sequential functional) employing similar assumptions and mediating variables. Examines an extension of nonverbal expectancy violations theory to multiple…

Presents personal interviews with Dr. William Lee Miller, a former speechwriter for Adlai Stevenson's 1956 campaign for President; Dr. Robert Turner, a former speechwriter for presidents Harry Truman and John Kennedy; and Mrs. Dorothy Collins, a speechwriter for several key administrators at a major midwestern university. (JK)

Educable mentally retarded students (N=6) made daily dialogue journal entries for 40 days. Analysis of topics, language functions, and syntax revealed that: students produced functionally relevant, interactive communication; topics were more appropriate to chronological (18 years) than mental age (10 years); and written linguistic production was…

This article is directed to teachers of English as a second language and suggests sources of dialogues; ways to use dialogues in listening, speaking, reading and writing; using dialogues in personalized instruction and choosing dialogues. Dialogues should be short, natural conversations adapted to individual students. (CHK)

This paper describes a collaborative research study designed to determine whether well-constructed tasks in mathematical inquiry with the use of methods in dialogic discourse help students' retention of mathematical concepts in probability. The paper reports on an experiment conducted in two classrooms in an urban school district in the Pacific…

How to use stories and dialogs developed by the children in second language classes. (FB)

Focuses on two aspects of dialog in preschool units: (1) suggests that language development is enhanced by learning through imitation, direct teaching, and opportunities to practice and experiment; and (2) suggests that staff can learn from child-child dialog and improve communication with and between children. (JOW)

Presents an analysis of the effects of different styles of teacher talk on the degrees of initiative and talkativeness shown by preschool children involved in conversation with teachers. Investigates the relationships between changes in teaching style and the level of cognitive sophistication shown by children in dialog. (Author)

Presents a number of word games, jokes, puns, etc., stating grounds for using them in language teaching. Discusses their roots in the English-speaking world, and their motivating effect as they brighten up the teaching routine. (IFS/WGA)

Assuming that ability to communicate is the main goal of foreign language teaching, the article examines a textbook dialogue for its authenticity. An improved version is printed beside the original, and justifications for the changes are given. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Focuses on the nature and problems presented by grading student essays. Offers some solutions to those problems and reasons why it makes sense to put the burden of proof for grading on students so that a constructive dialog can develop between students and teacher. (TB)

Examined four-year olds' use of mental state terms in conversations. Found that more references to mental states were made in conversations with siblings and friends than with mothers. Frequent use of terms by both partners was related to cooperative interaction in child-friend and child-sibling dyads. Found associations with measures of language…