The recent publication of "The New Zealand Curriculum" calls for students to become connected, creative, confident life-long learners. To realise this vision, fundamental change is required in the way teachers and students think about and participate in classroom-based teaching and learning. This paper discusses one aspect of an action…

In attempting to answer the question "How is disability represented in plays?" two approaches are considered, one semiotic and literary and the other concerned with notions of stereotyping drawn from disability studies. The five plays on which the discussion is based are school examination set texts, raising questions about classroom…

"Research in the Teaching of English" (RTE) is the flagship research journal of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in the United States. It is a broad-based, multidisciplinary journal composed of original research articles and short scholarly essays on a wide range of topics significant to those concerned with the…

Classroom teachers draw upon a variety of discourses to understand and make decisions about the students they teach. This case study investigation explored the discourses at work in inclusion classrooms, with particular attention paid to the way in which discourses may impact the problem of overrepresentation in special education. Frameworks that…

Using a sociocritical approach to the study of language and literacy and discourse analysis, this article examines student initiated challenges in a sheltered English course with two types of English learners: native+, ESL students; and, recently, arriving ESL students. The analysis draws on 19 hours of video-recorded observations of…

This study analyzes how a teacher in the United States used systemic functional linguistics to design a blog-mediated writing curriculum to support second grade English language learners' (ELLs) literacy development and abilities to use computer-mediated communication tools for social and academic purposes in and out of school. The questions posed…

Australia appears to be in the grip of a "literacy crisis" in workplaces. Media reports and industry/skills organisations are decrying the low literacy and numeracy levels of workers and the negative effects these have on productivity. As a consequence, the Australian government has increased funding for workplace literacy and numeracy…

The purpose of this study was to identify physical education (PE) teacher educators and examine physical education teacher education (PETE) programs presently offered at undergraduate degree-granting Canadian universities. The investigation was conceptualized by issues related to the dislodging of PETE from a central to a marginal role in higher…

This case looks at an urban high school and the interaction among teachers and administrators regarding the issue of language use at the school. Specifically, the teacher involved challenges heteronormative language. The case is intended to spark critical self-reflection, reflection of institutional norms, analysis of ways in which the status quo…

Policy documents informing the profession of teaching in Australia and elsewhere explicitly recommend nurturing those new to the profession working collaboratively with colleagues. Key to the development and growth of beginning teachers is the informal exchange of ideas and knowledge between colleagues--essentially through the functioning of a…

Set in the context of a teacher education program, this study examined how three White pre-service teachers participate in book club discussions of children's literature. We asked: When White pre-service teachers are in a context that enables talk about race, racism and anti-racism, what do they talk about? What conceptual and discursive tools do…

This article explores the talk among novice teachers who participated in an inquiry project designed to rethink the instruction for their struggling students by drawing upon competence rather than deficiencies. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) based on theories of systemic functional linguistics and CDA provided tools to explore how their use…

Case-based learning formats, in which relevant case information is provided just in time, require teachers to combine their scaffolding role with an information-providing one. The objective of this study is to establish how this combination of roles affects teacher behavior and that, in turn, mediates students' reasoning and problem solving. Data…

This paper, drawing on the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis, examines the general goals and objectives of the national curriculum reform launched by the Ministry of Education in 2001 for Chinese primary schools. Four policy documents relevant to the curriculum reform are analyzed, including Chinese curriculum and English…

As a peer-assisted learning process, minilectures on physiology were conducted by students. During this process, students lecture to their colleagues in the presence of faculty staff members. These lectures were evaluated by faculty staff and students simultaneously. The aim of this study was to compare feedback from faculty members and students…