Learning a language is more than understanding grammar and being able to complete drills and exercises correctly. Other practice and activities which improve communications skills must be incorporated into language classrooms. (CB)

Differences in interaction patterns between teachers and high/low achieving and high/low expectation students were examined in four grade 3 and six grade 6 classes, involving 237 students. Teachers interacted most frequently with high achieving/expectancy students, but spent more time waiting for and interacting with low achieving/expectancy…

Reviews recent research on the nature of teachers' and students' talk in the classroom, specifically addressing the teachers' expectations of student talk and behavior. (SRT)

Examines the nature, consequences, frequency of occurrence, and victims of classroom communication apprehension, and what kind of classes, classrooms, and teachers affect the probability of its occurrence. McCrosky's critical summary of research in this area serves as a basis for comparison. Supplementary tables included. (JD)

Results of several analyses indicate that student perceptions of classroom climate depend on (1) whether the class is liked or disliked; and (2) the gender of the professor, with greater consequences for male than female professors. (PD)

Summarizes the central assumptions of the communicative language teaching model and the potential difficulties that regular classroom teachers may face in implementing it. Seven criteria for use in organizing communicative classrooms are presented, and applications of these criteria to decisions about organizing classroom interaction and the…

Many students who use hearing aids effectively in quiet environments have a difficult time following information presented in large college classrooms. In the classroom, the instructor's voice is competing with background noise, room echo, and distance. Therefore, the intelligibility of the instructor's voice is degraded by the poor room acoustics…

The handbook, arising from a research project on adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching, presents ESL teachers with ways to use authentic English as a teaching tool in the classroom. The purpose of this book is to: examine the connections between current theories of spoken discourse analysis and classroom practice; encourage language…

The "new science" of leadership encourages and supports participative management and focuses on relationships. As they train educational leaders in democratic, humane, and inclusive principles, educators must model those same principles in their classrooms. Teachers seeking to evoke the voices of adult learners through transformative teaching must…

A technique for second language teachers to use in predicting and directing classroom interactions is outlined. The technique, if-then predictions is based on theories of cognitive information processing. The if-clause of a prediction describes the scope of conditions for a certain behavior or experience specified in the then-clause. The teacher…

This book looks at how teachers and young children talk to each other in the classroom, describing how a good teacher will use these conversations to build an encouraging classroom--a community where mutual acceptance is the priority and where children can learn the skills they will need in larger communities in the future. The skills include…

This case study was designed to investigate the effect on an instructor's simultaneously teaching the same course in both a distance and a traditional educational format. The study involved one male instructor-participant at a mid-sized regional university who, in one term, taught the same course in both distance and traditional format. Data were…

A study examined how pedagogic work in Queensland (Australia) schools could be reformed to meet the educational needs of low-achieving students from working-class and unemployed Samoan/Pacific Islander communities. Interviews were conducted with 39 primarily Anglo-Australian teachers and 35 Samoan/Pacific Islander parents and community members…

Classroom teaching methods and activities designed to encourage collaborative communication between teacher and students and among students in the English-as-a-second-language (ESL), bilingual, or mainstream class containing English language learners (ELLs) are presented. The approach is intended to reduce the teacher-controlled nature of…

This brief asks the question of what happens if the instructor isolates verbs and uses them in lesson plans for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students at the beginning and intermediate levels. The discussion is based on the experiences of one ESL teacher who found that the most pressing practical need of her students was a better command of…