Examples are given of classroom situations which pose challenges or problems for teachers. The reasons the problems arose are discussed, and alternative suggestions are made for handling them. Discussions include classroom interactions among teachers and students in these areas: (1) using students' time efficiently; (2) classroom arrangement and…

To suggest future research directions in the assessment area, a review was conducted of literature concerning teachers' classroom communication. Focusing first on the large body of research identifying behaviors or skills that lead to perceptions of teaching effectiveness and increased learning, the review then examined a smaller group of studies…

Pertinent to potential recommendations for communication training in teacher preparation, a study investigated prospective teachers' intended use of communication control strategies in managing student misbehaviors. As an extension of previous instructional research, a typology of common student misbehavior types (active/passive) and intensity…

The teaching activities presented in these articles integrate language skills in the social studies curriculum in a variety of ways. The paper describes (1) producing a news program in the classroom; (2) creating "word webs" (using a core word to make associations with other words); (3) making jackdaws (a collection of anything, real or imaginary,…

Recognizing that nonverbal behaviors typically provide the framework for interpreting verbal messages, this project (the sixth in a series of projects designed to examine teacher power in the classroom) proposed and sequentially tested a heuristic model of student affective learning as a function of behavior alteration techniques and teacher…

The methodology developed for use in a U.S.-sponsored radio-based English language arts program for grades 1-3 in Kenya, adapted to the special circumstances of the medium, the context, and the program's administrative limitations, is a highly interactive radio lesson whose most important organizational characteristics are adherence to…

A major problem that continues to plague United States education is the fact that large numbers of disadvantaged black students are not learning to read well enough to function in society. This paper discusses three reasons for the problem of teaching reading to these students. First, there exist no comprehensive developmental reading theories, no…

A review of research suggests that, for at least 70 years, teachers have interacted with their students using a relatively consistent pattern involving lecturing, seat work by students, and teacher/student interaction. Yet, after thousands of research studies, educators are unable to say that those interactions have any significant impact on…

This study was designed to investigate three main topics: the frequency of different kinds of questions which day care teachers asked of low-income 2-year-olds, the toddlers' rate of response to questions, and differences in questions asked of boys and girls. It was hypothesized that caregivers would ask girls more personal-social questions and…

Details of a year-long sociolinguistic study of classroom discourse are presented in this final report, with focus on pupil perceptions of the units and features of classroom discourse. Pupils in second-, third-, and fourth-grade classrooms in a lower socioeconomic, multiethnic elementary school, viewed videotapes of language arts lessons given…

An inservice teacher education minicourse using programed materials is described. The course is intended to develop skills in studying verbal teaching-learning interactions for the purpose of increasing student participation, initiative, and motivation, and uses the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) to analyze teaching. Information…

This study describes the processes involved in developing an observational system for analyzing teacher classroom behavior. Three-hundred-sixty sixth grade students reported their perceptions of their teachers by responding to a questionnaire and to the same questions during interviews. The students' perceptual reports were analyzed to determine…

The use of improvisational drama to foster classroom communication about works of literature and about controversial topics of concern to students is described in this paper. After discussing the values of improvisational drama in the English classroom, the paper outlines a five-day sequence of exercises and activities involving relaxation,…

This paper attempts to identify key, recurring discourse activities and to develop hypotheses about ethnic or subgroup differences in discourse style that could lead to adverse educational outcomes. Data are drawn from ethnographic observation of 50 sharing time ("show and tell") sessions held in a first grade classroom. Different…

A report is presented of an evaluation study that was set up to monitor the effects of a bilingual program on students' progress in all subject areas, its effects on student attitudes towards the French language and culture, and the patterns of language usage in the bilingual classroom. The sample for the study consisted of three groups: a…