This paper considers one researcher's challenge of marking his progress in reading/studying Jacques Derrida's "Aporias" (1993) by what he calls the continual hermeneutic of making meaning. The paper places the "Aporias" reading in the setting of a weekly research group whose research cycle was creating meaning in and out of the…

Looks theoretically at the topic of authenticity, arguing that it is important to get beneath labels and the surface of classroom activities in order to create instruction that is authentic. Uses hermeneutics to examine authenticity as a perspective to help think through important issues. (SR)

Discusses the nature, scope, and clarity of both David Tukey's and Jeffery Bineham's claims (presented in previous articles in this issue). Analyzes their exchange from the standpoint of one whose work is being neither attacked nor defended. Evaluates Bineham's critique of Tukey's position, Bineham's own counterargument, and the case study Bineham…

Discusses the hermeneutic and epistemological dimensions of science, and investigates the role that this discussion might play in science education. After a brief review of two main variants of hermeneutic conceptions of science, a general outline is given of the "existential-ontological notion of science." Draws conclusions for a new…

Offers a critical evaluation of theses presented by Martin Eger that attempt to justify the position that philosophical hermeneutics is an appropriate framework for science education in most of its aspects. Addresses the use of "meaning,""interpretation," and "text" in Eger's discussion. (LZ)

Argues that, with the emergence of hermeneutic perspectives, scholars pursuing research in a socially constructed reality are agents of their claims and ethically responsible for their contributions to the reality they study. Examples are given. (11 references) (EA)

Claims made by positivist and pluralist histographers about the history of linguistics are evaluated in light of recent theoretical developments in semiotics, hermeneutics, history, and linguistics. (41 references) (Author/VWL)

This article discusses the complex relationship between philosophy and theology. It is important to recognize that the major world religions developed--initially at least--independently of Western philosophy. Although a close reciprocal relationship between classical philosophy and Western monotheism developed in the Middle Ages, the impact of…

In this article, we use a dialogue format to explore the possible relevance of ideas in the hermeneutic tradition of social science for examining contemporary issues that lie at the intersection of concerns about validity and ethics in language assessment. Specifically, we focus on language testing as a socio-political-cultural practice and…

In a not very distant past one method of interpretation has dominated New Testament (NT) studies almost totally. The historical-critical method and its application in so-called appropriate exegesis has often uncritically been perceived as the means via which "the original and thus right" understanding of a text could be found. More recently this…

This study explored the instructional reading practices of four elementary teachers, all graduates of a small branch campus of a large Midwestern University, who obtained their Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and have been employed in public elementary schools for nearly three years. The four individuals were former university students of…

The focus of this paper is on student interpretation and usage of the existence and uniqueness theorems for first-order ordinary differential equations. The inherent structure of the theorems is made explicit by the introduction of a framework of layers concepts-conditions-connectives-conclusions, and we discuss the manners in which students'…

The commentary argues for an understanding of how texts are put together that accounts for multimodality and draws on children's ways of being and doing in the home, their "habitus". It focuses on identities as socially situated. It argues that it is important to trace the process of sedimenting identities during text production. This offers a way…

Accountability is a concept that is well suited to the marketplace and a market-driven society, and it is appropriate when one wants to acquire a product made or sold by someone else. This commodification model is less effective when people pay for a service, rather than a product. The model becomes even more problematic when it is applied to…

This article examines Engestrom's version of activity theory, one rooted in Marxism. It is argued that whilst this approach holds progressive possibilities, its radicalism is undermined by a restricted conceptualisation of transformation and the marginalisation of a politicised notion of social antagonism. As a consequence, this approach to…