English instructors often find themselves in a position of upholding what they realize is an institutional form of racism and classism. Such "standards" presuppose a "correct" language form, one that is often stultifying and unchanging. In today's college classrooms, many English as a Second Language students appear whose…

This book presents excerpts from a large collection of student journals which were submitted to an English professor over a 15-year period. The diaries, many of which were read aloud and anonymously in class, offer a unique glimpse into the personal world of students' lives. The journals demonstrate many of the themes that students write about and…

The guide offers instructors a system for responding to their English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students' writing, and is designed to accompany an ESL student guide to editing. It include information on how to: respond as a collaborator and constructive critic; respond to content; respond to sentence-level errors; assign grades; help students…

In recent years, research on classroom climate has focused on developing instruments to measure the relationships between student perceptions of classroom climate and learning outcomes. However, very little has been done to help teachers improve their classroom climates. This paper presents findings of a study that attempted to improve classroom…

A study examined how 8 writers, both successful and less successful (4 of each), constructed their interpretations of teachers' written comments and what factors influenced their readings of teachers' comments. Subjects, 8 students enrolled in the first semester writing course at Olivet Nazarene University, a small private liberal arts…

A study sought to better understand the construct of teacher verbal effectiveness. Teacher verbal effectiveness was theoretically conceptualized using certain variables: verbal immediacy, language intensity, self-disclosure, communication and accommodation, and humor. A scale was developed and factor analysis yielded a unidimensional teacher…

This book presents successful classroom practices for teaching thinking skills with children and adolescents. An introduction discusses the basic importance of cognitive processes to academic success and the importance of thinking skills programs for all students. Four fundamental concepts that underlie recent changes in curriculum and…

A study of 30 Asian high school students (9 males, 21 females), who were in U.S. schools for a variety of reasons, ranging from extended visits to families of relatives to temporary academic or occupational appointments of parents in U.S. universities or corporations investigated student perspectives on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)…

Australia's process for quality child care improvement has 20 core principles, 4 of which relate to interactions between children and staff: (1) staff interactions with children should be warm and friendly; (2) all children should be treated equally, and their individual needs and backgrounds should be respected; (3) both sexes should be treated…

The Quality Schools movement combines the principles of control theory with Edward Deming's principles of total quality management. The outcome is a school environment in which the focus is on quality work, discipline is maintained without coercion, and students continuously evaluate their own work. This book describes the application of Quality…

A study of language interactions between teachers and students in early childhood (K-3) settings examined teacher responses that encouraged, prevented, or stopped a child's attempts to participate in language interactions with the teacher. Thirty early childhood teachers were observed for 90 sessions of language arts instruction. Tabulations were…

To explore the possibility that the gender make-up of a class may predict the gender specificity of the language used by instructors, a study examined Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) and the number of gender examples they used. Subjects were eight graduate teaching assistants instructing a basic speech communication course and seven GTAs…

A study analyzed the number and types of contributions that girls and boys made to a science discussion in a sixth-grade class. A 48-minute, student-centered cross-discussion was videotaped and analyzed. The exceptionally long discussion and the complexity of the topic (involving moving shadows and frames of reference) make the lesson a rich…

This paper, written from an Australian perspective, examines the contribution of oral language disorders to the classroom performance of secondary students. Five brief case examples illustrate the effects of language disorders on social competence, ability to follow verbal instructions and routines, ability to cope with a bilingual background, and…

The debate about the use of Black English has been raging for many years, with no real solutions and few practical suggestions to help teachers and African-American students handle the situation in the classroom. Tensions are often heightened by misconceptions about Standard English--that it is a White man's language and necessary for success and…