Current studies on language and literacy in hearing children have pointed to face-to-face linguistic interaction as one crucial factor in the emergence of literacy. Studies that explored the language and literacy of preschool children, both in the their homes and in school, have found that the kind of talk and the quality of talk that transpires…

Motivational interviewing, which began as a counseling technique in addiction recovery, is a client-centered tool for making changes, increasing helpful behaviors and decreasing unhelpful behaviors. It relies on an individual's intrinsic motivation and interest in change, using a non-confrontational approach to frame goals in a practical,…

The work in the Comenius Network project Developing Quality in Mathematics Education II (DQME II) has a main focus on development and evaluation of modelling tasks. One reason is the gap between what mathematical modelling is and what is taught in mathematical classrooms. This article deals with one modelling task and focuses on how two teachers…

In this brief retrospective essay, the value of a particular kind of classroom talk is extolled--not the kind of talk that simply feeds back information, but rather talk that has the power to shape knowledge through participant engagement with a range of processes: hypothesising, exploration, debate and synthesis. This kind of talk is the…

In this paper we suggest a practical, talk-based model for the successful pursuit of teaching science in primary classrooms (Loxley et al., 2010). This model is not only based on our own experience of teaching in primary schools, and of training teachers to do so, but is also based substantially on research on classroom talk, which has built upon…

English teachers and educators of English teachers should work within rather than against the tensions present in their classrooms. For us, nothing could be more key. Until university teacher educators construct and enact classrooms that embrace the dialogical tensions and possibilities within those settings, new and veteran teachers in the…

In accord with the general program of researching factors relating to ultimate attainment and maturational constraints in adult language acquisition, this commentary highlights the importance of input differences in amount, type, and setting between naturalistic and classroom learners of an L2. It is suggested that these variables are often…

This study involves a large-scale investigation of willingness to communicate (WTC) in Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms. A hypothesized model integrating WTC in English, communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs, and classroom environment was tested using structural equation modeling. Validation of the…

This communication supports an argument that preservice elementary teachers ought to study number language as part of their mathematics content courses, just as they study relationships between numeration and quantity. In particular, the paper spells out some ways in which number language can be seen as problematic by carefully detailing various…

The purpose of the present article is to present and illustrate two different ways of analysing the normativity and discursivity of classroom communication during education for sustainable development (ESD). The two types of analysis can provide important knowledge for discussions of ESD in relation to morals and democracy. Both methods are based…

There is conflicting evidence on whether collaborative group work leads to improved classroom relations, and if so how. A before and after design was used to measure the impact on work and play relations of a collaborative learning programme involving 575 students 9-12 years old in single- and mixed-age classes across urban and rural schools. Data…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the signal-to-noise ratios in classrooms while class was in session and students were interacting with the teacher and each other. Method: Measurements of noise and reverberation were collected for 5 different classrooms in 3 different schools while class was in session. Activities taking place…

Didactical advantages of audience response systems (ARS) have been discussed extensively ever since they have been used in classes. However, conventional ARS bear some drawbacks, such as requiring specific hardware, generating costs (text messaging based and web service fees) and creating a dependency on external hosts. In this paper we present a…

In a self-study the main author examines the difficulties and challenges his students experience in their literary development. The central question is: How can my teaching support students in their literary development? This self-study is supported by a research group, examining together one literature lesson given by the main author, striving…

This paper primarily investigates the interactional unfolding and management of "claims of insufficient knowledge" (Beach and Metzger 1997) in two English language classrooms from a multi-modal, conversation-analytic perspective. The analyses draw on a close, micro-analytic account of sequential organisation of talk as well as on various…