This paper illustrates how classroom discourse demands a multi-layered analysis. The first analysis focuses on classroom discourse and provides a picture of pupil participation in teacher-pupil interactions: who is inducted into discourse and who is not. However, this local micro-analysis does not afford interpretation at the level of the…

A model for processes of abstraction, based on epistemic actions, has been proposed elsewhere. Here we apply this model to processes in which groups of individual students construct shared knowledge and consolidate it. The data emphasizes the interactive flow of knowledge from one student to the others in the group, until they reach a shared…

This article details what happened when, after endless hours of teaching and explaining how literature circles work, the authors were dismayed at how their students still struggled to have positive social interactions during book discussions. Book discussions often deteriorated into tension filled discussions marred by class inequities, bullying,…

Drawing on extant theorizing and research on reflective teaching, this paper discusses the impact of an innovative methods course designed around the activity of student teachers' reflections on their own classroom discourse, for their understandings of the connections between theory and practice. Situated in the context of foreign language…

The middle years are a crucial stage of schooling where the range in student achievement widens and progress for some students slows significantly (Cairney, Buchanan, Sproats & Lowe 1998, Hill & Russell 1999). Despite moves towards middle school reform and improved literacy standards, there remains a gap in literacy provision for young…

During the last two decades an increasing number of international faculty specializing in different disciplines have been hired by U.S. institutions of higher education. Most of these instructors have been college educated in their native countries but have come to the United States for graduate studies and then earned doctoral degrees from U.S.…

Slide shows presented with software such as PowerPoint or WordPerfect Presentations can trap instructors into bad teaching practices. Research on memory suggests that slide-show instruction can actually be less effective than traditional lecturing when the teacher uses a blackboard or overhead projector. The author proposes a model of classroom…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how very young children can influence their daily life in preschool, in relation to teacher control. The specific questions studied were: What opportunities do the children have to make their own choices and take the initiative? How does teacher control manifest itself? What form do permanent…

This study aims to investigate the role of mediation in the learning process from a sociocultural perspective, activity theory in particular. This study was carried out in a primary English immersion school within the CCUEI Programs in Mainland China. Data were collected mainly through observations and interviews, which were then supplemented by…

At its most fundamental level, like all instruction, comprehension instruction is composed of moment-to-moment interactions among students and between students and their teacher. Children's competence at making meaning from texts and their motivation to read are shaped by a variety of classroom influences, one of the most important of which may be…

Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study uses an ecological approach to examine how student interactions within a dual-language school context may offer affordances for increased linguistic and conceptual understanding. Using qualitative analysis of student discourse, this paper focuses on data from recorded interactions between pairs of…

Language ideologies shape educational practices in ways that can either limit or expand students' engagement with academic content. This article examines science lessons with third and fourth grade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, focusing on (a) regular lessons, in which the monolingual teacher speaks English while a…

A study investigated the impact of teachers' use of immediacy behaviors in the college classroom. Behavior patterns of teachers often affect the behavior patterns of students. Teacher immediacy has been found to positively impact student cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning. Subjects, 70 students, enrolled in a communication course in a…

Because of her unfamiliarity with the culture, an experienced creative writing instructor in her first year of teaching on the big island of Hawaii decided to use the standard writing workshop model. The University of Hawaii Hilo draws a diverse mix of students, returning students, and local students who speak Creole. Some students were uncertain…

This paper offers a compilation of compositional metaphors suggested as appropriate for use in writing instruction. The paper states that compositionalists deal continuously with a wide variety of complex and potentially undesirable dichotomies caused by differences in experience, physiology, and ethnicity. According to the paper some of these…