Investigates the nature of small-group social interactions in the mediation of children's science learning. Reports that the teacher mediated the children's small-group science learning through discourse that negotiated children's status, actions, and meaning, as well as through discourse that established the normative structure of the small…

Lists common expressions and terms that teachers of English as a Second Language may wish to use and highlight for the benefit of their students. They include greetings, formulas of courtesy, inquiries, classroom management, praise, audio-vidual equipment, presentation, application, and student's favorites. (MDM)

Strategies to increase positive peer interactions of young children with hearing impairments include reducing teacher-child interactions, changing classroom activity structure, social skills intervention, peer-mediated interventions, increasing familiarity through intensive contact, and peer orientation. Evidence of effectiveness of these…

Describes how one elementary school teacher uses three cornerstones to build a safe community for herself and her students: getting to know parents by asking herself to dinner; working with big ideas on long-lasting projects that grab students' attention and focus their drive to belong and to communicate with their classmates; and portfolios. (SR)

Discusses the eight-month examination of interactive student-teacher journal entries of first-, third-, and fifth-grade Spanish-English bilingual classrooms. Concludes that students did not make a "transition" from native to second language, instead used a bilingual approach, shifting language in journal entries. Suggests mandatory…

States that talk in interaction is the prevailing form of instructional activity. Claims that an understanding of the interactional practices of reading and writing is necessary. Examines the practice of speaker turn design. Concludes by showing how this form of organization can be used in diagnosing problems that students encounter in solving…

Examines gendered aspects of literacy in two bilingual primary classrooms in a working-class Latino community. Centers on values that are associated with literacy in each room and the gendering of those values through specific classroom practices, with attention to gendered aspects of literacy tasks, texts that were written and read, and the talk…

Tests two models (the Motivation Model and the Learning Model) of the immediacy-learning relationship using path analysis. Uses Keller's Model of Motivation to explain the results, finding that teacher nonverbal and verbal immediacy enhances student motivation, presumably by impacting attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. (SR)

Finds significant correlation between student communication apprehension and student classroom apprehension. Reveals significant differences in classroom apprehension by class type, but no significant differences in communication apprehension by choice of occupation. Finds perceptions of academic performance negatively associated with classroom…

Six group games were introduced into a second-grade bilingual classroom. Children's talk during each game was classified using a modification of Dyson's five language functions (representational, directive, heuristic, personal, and interactional). Group games provided many communication opportunities. Some children tried new communication styles.…

These communication guidelines, for mainstream teachers whose classes include deaf students, stress courtesy. Specific guidelines include (1) maintain visual lines of communication, (2) attend to the speaker (not the interpreter), (3) use pauses to let the interpreter catch up, (4) recognize speakers, and (5) foster a relaxed atmosphere. (DB)

A teacher recounts how a classroom atmosphere of comfort and trust was developed as 10- and 11-year-old students wrote a play, acted in it, directed it, and designed sets and costumes, based on the book "The Lion's Paw" by Robb White. (DB)

Discusses "politicized" teaching, distinguishing between taking up the politics of the classroom and offering up politics in the classroom. Offers two theoretical orientations for the exercise of rhetorical power in the classroom and proposes some suggestions for generating and sustaining dialogic classroom discourse. (SR)

A survey of Australian teachers of the deaf and their classroom communicative practices found that many used speech with sign and most used Australasian Signed English, with most able to demonstrate that they could correctly encode the system. (six references) (Author/CB)

Describes an introductory course in instructional communication research for graduate students. Discusses the rationale for such a course, course goals, units and readings, and student evaluation. (SR)