This experimental/comparison study of secondary-level, small-group instruction included 318 first- and second-grade students (170 ELL and 148 English-only) from six elementary schools. All schools served high numbers of ELL students with varying school SES in urban and suburban communities. Experimental schools implemented a three-tier model of…

The study reports social-cognitive outcomes of interventions in a cluster-randomized school-based aggression prevention trial in low and moderate resource urban communities. Targeted social cognitions were aggressive responses, aggressive/prosocial fantasy, and normative beliefs supporting aggression. Participants were 1,484 early elementary…

Classroom discourse has participation structures that can be interpreted as the verbal equivalents of being sent to the corner, and when these structures operate repeatedly enough, educational authority and resistance become locked into ongoing opposition. The discursive details of classroom life, from a poststructuralist perspective, are what…

This study sought to determine the effect of four different structured group decision-making techniques in an undergraduate business communication course on the quality of a written assignment and on student reaction to the decision-making technique. The effects of gender, age, and academic intellectual ability were also investigated. The four…

This paper examines the practice of using cohorts in administrator-preparation programs from conceptual and practical viewpoints. The first three sections describe the current state of affairs of cohort usage; the final section explores the potential of the cohort structure as a means for developing leaders committed to creating communities of…

From plans to rescue EuroDisney to blueprints for introducing the Intel chip, group projects in a public relations class can offer students invaluable lessons in real-world applications. This paper provides teachers of undergraduate, introductory classes in public relations with a primer on how to develop, supervise, and evaluate group projects in…

This study followed each of three students in several different social contexts within an elementary classroom, analyzing their discourse from different theoretical perspectives. The social construction and reconstruction of students across different classrooms, tasks, and social contexts was examined, including the influence of constructs…

The Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Education and the Toronto (Ontario) Board of Education have suggested or mandated use of the teacher advisory structure for grades 7 through 9. The establishment of teacher advisory groups involves organizing teachers and students into small groups to permit instruction and advising to be personalized. Their…

Cooperative learning is defined by an emphasis on positive interdependence among students to learn course materials, face-to-face interaction, individual accountability, the development of interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing of group functioning. In the last 10 years, lower-, upper-, and graduate-level psychology courses at…

This guide, which is intended to assist literacy practitioners interested in establishing collaborative learning (CL) groups, outlines a collaborative learning approach that was developed during a project to coordinate citywide adult literacy efforts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Discussed in the guide's eight sections are the following topics:…

This book presents an exchange of ideas for improving classroom performance, compiled by faculty from Indiana University. The idea for "Quick Hits" originated at an annual retreat of FACET (Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching), when FACET inductees were invited to explain their favorite teaching strategies to other participants in 3 to 5…

Beliefs about texts and textbooks is an active area of inquiry in social psychology but the results of these studies are largely unknown in the fields of English education and composition. For most students knowledge and beliefs function very similarly. What a student knows he or she inevitably believes; and what he or she believes means a…

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) produces more Hispanic graduates who seek doctoral degrees than any other university in the country. These students, however, still belong to that group of minorities who traditionally have done poorly in college, particularly in science, engineering, and mathematics. To remedy this situation, UTEP has…

A study of large group language instruction in Nigeria draws on experiences of 33 teachers providing remedial English second language instruction in Nigerian universities. The report presents: teacher experiences and perceptions of class size (often over 100); a questionnaire used to investigate practices in and attitudes toward large classes;…

The reprint of a 1984 article on language teaching for communicative competence focuses on the use of small group communicative activities. The benefits and advantages of small group (two to six participants) communications activities are outlined, including the increased opportunities for speaking, less intimidating context, retention of…