Demonstrates how science instruction can only be effective when teachers are aware of differences in children's language and their culture. The author argues that it is important to recognize when linguistic or cultural understandings lead children to wrong answers that to them seem totally logical. (GR)

Women students ages 35-55 wrote about their experiences in formal education, focusing on being exposed, being different, mother's expectations, being chosen, being included, and understanding the rules. Analysis indicated the centrality of relationships in construction of self-concept as learners and the persistence of these beliefs into…

Describes how teachers' casual talk is, in fact, instruction and can have as much effect as direct instruction. Examines the impact on students of the teacher's language behaviors and how changes in those behaviors can change student classroom responses. (ET)

Presents a framework for examining the ways in which written texts are shaped by and related to the oral texts of classroom life. An ethnographic study of a bilingual sixth-grade class is described that examined the factors that affected what pairs of students writing a common social science text accomplished in face-to-face interactions. (MDM)

Illustrates how, through the words selected, the patterns of interaction experienced, and the range of events constructed in a bilingual sixth-grade classroom, students and teachers defined what counted as mathematics, mathematical actions, and being mathematicians. The patterns of language use and the range of mathematical events within the first…

Techniques for managing college classroom discussions about cultural diversity and oppression are offered, using a model of social identity development that helps to understand student responses and classroom dynamics. The model posits five stages of social identity development experienced by individuals in both disadvantaged and advantaged…

This study examined transformations in educational discourse in the context of history lessons at a Hungarian secondary school with an English immersion program. It provides a contextualized analysis of classroom discourse practices by examining some of the sociocultural, linguistic, and academic knowledge structures that are integral to and…

A discussion of group dynamics in collaborative learning describes use of this approach in an experimental biology course. Three approaches to group dynamics are outlined (personality and learning style, cognitive style, and group life). Identified are variables that teachers either have little power to affect, can address in course design, or can…

Examines how differences in teaching practices in middle school mathematics classrooms diminish black students' opportunities to understand, communicate, and apply mathematical ideas. A pedagogical framework of responsive mathematics instruction for black male students is described. (GR)

A study examined the influence of male and female professors' communication styles on participation rates of: a group of college students, individual students, and males and females. Analysis of videotaped seminars indicated professors' communication styles facilitated the communication climate. Communication styles influenced student…

Two studies investigated the effects of modified interaction on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition among Japanese high school students learning English as a Second Language. The studies found that interactionally modified input resulted in better comprehension and the acquisition of more new words than premodified input. (MDM)

Visiting Chinese teacher-educators observed U.S. high school science classrooms and compared U.S. and Chinese science education. Examines teaching as collective versus isolated activity, teacher- versus student-centered classrooms, deductive versus inductive reasoning, theory versus practice, active versus passive learning, book learning versus…

Overviews some current approaches and practices of the basic aspects of foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) methodology and illustrates classroom implementation of these techniques. FLES practitioners need to explore ways to appeal to students to help them retain different types of Spanish content and gain new insights into Spanish…

Describes a study in which elementary school students were required to collaborate in studying a hedgerow, producing boundaries and sketches. Results stress the importance of talk in learning. The hedgerow lesson presented an ideal situation for developing personal knowledge through the explanatory discussion of information with peers. (SM)

To determine whether men dominate language in a mixed-gender adult classroom, 4 lessons were observed and recorded at a training course for 10 supervisors in London. Men helped maintain women's silence by the competitive nature of their discourse. Men's linguistic domination is related to research on children's classrooms. (SLD)