A language evaluation instrument was devised to assess the accuracy of program implementation by teachers of four Australian preschool programs. The Teacher Language Instrument (TLI) categorizes each verbal episode of a teaching interchange for both mode and function. Five general mode categories of teacher language behavior--statements,…

Initially, many children use language with enthusiasm and apparent ease, but this lively use of language is sharply curtailed shortly after they begin school. This can be attributed to teachers' monopolizing continued discourse. A study explored the idea that increased student oral participation by more students at a higher level of thinking would…

A three-year project conducted in 2 Indianapolis, Indiana, public elementary schools involved three phases: (1) the study of teacher, student, and school program needs in the teaching and learning of reading and writing; (2) teacher and administrator inservice education; and (3) curriculum development and implementation. The inservice component…

Noting that while laboratory investigations of recordings of children's spontaneous verbal creations or repetitions of traditional forms in their natural play habitats have indicated that they do engage in systematic explorations of language structures in their play, this paper points out that there have been no investigations of whether such…

Recent directions in ethnographic study of classroom interaction are surveyed for the help they can give to an analysis of classroom language and conversation. Many studies emphasize that children's responses to school tasks are directly influenced by values learned at home and that these factors add to the complexity of communication in the…

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between teacher behaviors and pupil behaviors, achievement, and attitudes. The study was conducted in six elementary school classrooms. Eight high-inference scales were also used to obtain measures of classroom management, instructional skills, and interpersonal skills. It was…

A study of communication patterns in a desegregated school, located in an urban middle class black neighborhood, revealed "meddlin" (verbal and nonverbal aggression) to be a key area of cultural dissonance. This pattern is more common among blacks. Name calling, rumor mongering, body bluster, verbal intimidation, taking or destroying…

The six studies reported on here sought to determine if patterns of behaviors could be determined in the verbal and nonverbal communications of teachers toward pupils, and if there were differences in these patterns when such variables as sex, race, ability, age, and socioeconomic status were considered. Videotapes of over 100,000 teacher/pupil…

Noting that the verbal interactions that transpire between teacher and student in the classroom setting are central to the instructional process, this paper offers reading teachers a systematic means of examining their own interactive patterns in the context of oral reading instruction. In addition, it provides teachers with a way of inspecting…

Based upon the communications process model of teaching and learning, the Miniaturized Total Interaction Analysis System (Mini-TIA) establishes a conceptual framework for observing symptomatic classroom behaviors. It provides a means for the evaluation of classroom communication. Interpersonal communication is defined as either verbal (using…

A functional typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classroom instruction and inservice training is described and illustrated in this paper. The described typology is based upon functional definitions of elementary and conceptual behavior and incorporates the kinds of goals and objectives that surveys and research have shown to be…

This paper reviews several studies that have sought to explain the role of nonverbal communication in education contexts. The specific areas that are explored include kinesics, eye contact, paralanguage, classroom environment, proxemics, and physical appearance. After reviewing research in these areas, the paper examines the research conclusions…

This guide suggests an observation strategy to be used by principals or administrators to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the kindergarten program in their schools. The observation strategy is based on description and analyses of four dimensions of a learning environment: space, time, people and things. Section I contains a series of…

THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS, CHARTS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, THE DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION ARE PRESENTED IN THIS BOOK. TOPICS CONSIDERED FIRST ARE THE RECEIVING AND EVALUATING OF SENSORY EXPERIENCE, AND THE TRANSLATING OF THIS EXPERIENCE INTO SYMBOLS, INTO THE SILENT LANGUAGES OF TIME, COLOR, AND SPACE, AND INTO COMMON WORDS. THE EMPHASIS IS THEN SHIFTED…

Comments of experienced teachers suggest that writing may be avoided in school not simply because of its inherent difficulty, but because its undertaking typically lacks connection to anything else in the lives of students or teachers. It is possible that teachers can best serve the acquisition of writing skills by structuring the social occasions…