Control of discourse topic was studied for two book-reading interactions involving 11 dyads of mothers and children (ages 3-5) with language impairments. Topic control was shared during book reading, robust reciprocal associations were evident between maternal and child discourse control features, and three patterns of topic control arrangements…

Examines imagined professional and linguistic communities available to preservice and inservice English-as-a-Second-Language and English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers enrolled in one TESOL program. Discursive analysis of students' positioning in their linguistic autobiographies suggests that the traditional discourse of linguistic competence…

Describes an activity connected with mathematical definitions that illustrates the process of gradual refinement as a way to understand and construct knowledge. Presents a gradual construction of a specific geometry concept that was the result of interaction between participants in a mathematical discourse. (KHR)

This study examined the mathematical development of 2 children from 18 to 48 months as part of a larger longitudinal study of the impact of home environment on later learning attitudes. It was concluded that early pedagogical strategies may vary in the manner in which they not only pave the way for later development, but also foster expectations…

Explores how students' epistemological ideas about the nature of science interact with their conceptual understanding of a particular domain as reflected in written explanations for an event of natural selection constructed by groups of high school students through a technology-supported curriculum on evolution. Highlights the need for an…

Examines various criteria that have been proposed for evaluating the increasing number of empirical studies carried out using qualitative research methods and demonstrates how such criteria may privilege certain forms of qualitative research while excluding others. Select existing evaluative criteria for qualitative research proposed by applied…

This study examined classroom discourse as a predictor of changes one year later in kindergartners', first-graders', and second-graders' beliefs about their academic capabilities. Analyses revealed that changes over time in children's competence perceptions regarding their math and reading skills could be predicted from the types of statements…

Uses narrative to exemplify young children's learning of mathematics. Presents a model of a supportive classroom emphasizing discourse, agency, and authorship through participatory and reflective practices. Identifies features of such a classroom and uses narratives from 5-year-olds to explore their authoring, sense-making, collaborating, and how…

Policy discourse about lifelong learning has shifted from economic imperative to social and moral pursuit and intrinsic good. Despite this, the emphasis on technological solutions in Information Age discourse subjugates social, civic, and political concerns to an economic competitiveness rationale. (Contains 66 references.) (SK)

Analyzes the on-line teacher network, Write for Your Life (WFYL), that sought to facilitate transformative experiences for its K-12/university participants that would result in changed practices across the network, and in increased learning for the students of those practitioners. Analyzes the dialogic "web" the teachers spun across five years.…

Examines samples of writing by first-language speakers of Vietnamese to show that grounding, rather than lexical aspect, accounts for their selective marking of past tense. The article suggests that the learner-hypothesis governing this use of English past tense derives from the transference of a grounding-marking principle from a tense-free…

Discusses three experiments conducted to examine the effects of three types of elaboration--marked paraphrase, unmarked paraphrase, and unnecessary detail--on the listening comprehension of nonnative speakers. Findings indicate that the quality of elaboration has implications for listening comprehension in both the classroom and the workplace. (36…

Illustrates some of the methodological problems, in relation to some pitfalls in the qualitative analysis, that are associated with gender, education, and discourse studies. Two studies are critically evaluated as a basis for further discussion: one from the primary education sector and the other from a further education perspective. (GR)

Discusses the dominant paradigm for analyzing interactions, Conversation Analysis (CA), pointing out that the paradigm does not include participant intention in its analysis. Notes that CA practitioners focus on empirical investigations of what the participants are doing and how they are doing it and that the understanding of an utterance is…

Examines through a text analysis of spoken and written discourse the meaning and function of the double genitive (DG) in English in comparison to the inflected preposed genitive. The study shows the DG to possess unique and specific pragmatic functions not adequately described for nonnative students. (22 references) (Author/CK)