The aim of the paper is to present and discuss a Report from a Comenius 2.1 project, aimed at developing teachers' interpersonal, intercultural, social and civic competence. The study presented in the report was a multiple case study, and the methods for collecting data were focus group dialogues (with 34 teacher students), one video recording in…

The currently accepted theories about communication and perception are presented and interpreted in such a way that their practical application becomes apparent. The author describes the use of such audio aids as records, tape recordings, language laboratories, and radio. She also describes the use of projected and non-projected pictorial material…

The teacher, a participant observer in the total communication environment of the classroom, can, through systematic observation of that communication, attempt a change in behaviors which will result in an improved teaching-learning environment. One systematic way of looking at classroom communication involves the distinction between the nature of…

A two-part experiment was conducted to determine if consistent, predictable differences exist in teacher encoding ability (composed of the ability to formulate messages containing the essential information, to anticipate information needs of the listener, and to modify or recode the message from listener feedback). Twenty-eight teacher-encoders…

Responds that while sexism may be directed by primitive values, it is a problem highly resistant to elimination through law or persuasion and will require a course of treatment over decades. (PD)

With the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), all states are required to assess English language development (ELD) of English language learners (ELLs) beginning in the 2002-2003 school year. Existing ELD assessments do not, however, capture the necessary prerequisite language proficiency for mainstream classroom participation and for taking…

Recent debate on the standard classroom Initiation-Response-Follow-up pattern has focused particular attention on the final move and the contribution it can make to productive interaction in teacher-fronted situations. This paper suggests that current research in this area has tended to exaggerate the pedagogic impact of changes based on…

This paper presents the findings that explored from the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators in initial teacher training colleges in Malawi. It examines how mathematics teacher educators construct a multilingual classroom and how they view code-switching. The discussion is based on pre-observation interviews with four…

Perceptions of Asian students as silent have been widely debated in the disciplines of applied linguistics and education. These debates have been largely concerned with the extent to which essentialised notions of Japanese culture are in operation and the consequences for teaching and learning. The silences of students and the expectations of…

The socio-cultural settings of English-language and English-medium classrooms are intrinsically bi/multilingual and bi/multicultural as both learners and teachers bring their multiple identities and home-community languages and sociolinguistic practices into the classroom. However, more often than not in such contexts, monolingual ideologies are…

This is a case study of an elementary teacher's decision to add multicultural children's books to her curriculum and an analysis of how her ideologies about race shaped the classroom discourse. Although the teacher's stated purpose was to teach the pitfalls of racial stereotypes by encouraging conversations about prejudice, often the classroom…

This naturalistic study reports the language and literacy-learning opportunities, and the conditions necessary to bring them about, in the art component of an innovative intergenerational programme. The focus is on the children in the programme (median age 4), their interaction with adult participants (median age 85) and facilitators, and the ways…

The importance of argumentation in science education is outlined and the relatively low level of argumentation typically observed in classrooms in the UK is noted, along with possible reasons for this. The research sets out to determine the extent to which primary school pupils engage in argumentation and to characterise their arguments in primary…

Since communication is an important feature of classrooms in which students are engaged in doing challenging mathematics, one concern that might be raised for teachers who are creating discourse-rich learning environments is what students who remain silent during discussions might learn. In this article, the authors consider this issue by…

High school teacher James C. Mayer explains how a student-run symposium can promote "risk-taking and participation" and help students practice effective persuasion skills before demonstrating them in writing. The symposium places students in roles that encourage responsibility and ownership for discussion and learning, shifting the classroom…