Cites documents available in the ERIC system which reflect the current educational philosophy emphasizing that successful teachers understand the nature of communication and are themselves skillful communicators. (MH)

Art lessons can teach concepts and develop students' self-confidence when they are encouraged to discuss their work. Activities and suggested questions are offered. (DF)

This ethnographic study identifies and explains instructional strategies that result in active, silent, or controlled classroom discussions. Strategies are explained by looking at the discussion's structural sequence, the content of the teacher's questions, and the use of informal language. (Author/MT)

Examines the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and academic achievement (AA) among elementary and middle school students. Finds that these two variables are meaningfully related among elementary and middle school students, but that students low and moderate in CA were not significantly different in their levels of AA. (MS)

A study of how children acquire language suggests that schools and their structured classroom situations offer few opportunities for students to develop linguistic competence. Four approaches to increasing classroom communication are offered. (CB)

Article provides a brief overview of sociolinguistics for educational researchers, describes the relevance of sociolinguistics for understanding classroom discourse, and suggests ways to measure the adequacy of sociolinguistic studies. (RB)

New conceptions of reading and writing emphasize the active role of the reader or writer in constructing meaning and the inherently social nature of reading and writing. This suggests that classrooms can be viewed as literate communities using reading and writing to accomplish classroom community goals. (MT)

The author proposes a framework that describes the teaching-learning process as shared responsibility between teacher and students from the outset. Research leading to the development of this model is reviewed. (MT)

This article attempts to alert educators to some of the subtle ways female students as a group are "touched" differently from male students and to show that such contact is likely to have a pernicious effect on women's educational achievement. (CB)

Selected findings from research on teacher clarity are highlighted. Implications are projected for teacher education programming and for faculty instructional practices. Issues needing further research are identified. (Author/CB)

Presents arguments against the practice of requiring long answers from students in the second-language class. The argument falls under two headings: (1) such long sentences are unnatural in the context in which they are being asked for and (2) they are usually inefficient. (SED)

Describes one teacher's systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of strategies to increase students' vocabularies. A research-type approach indicated that use of clarity statements and interchanges that encouraged connections to the students' own lives seemed more effective in helping students incorporate their understanding of concepts with…

It is proposed that the use of questions as a classroom teaching technique has been largely abandoned in favor of communicative authenticity, and that with careful attention to the linguistic, functional, discursive, and cognitive roles of questions in language, teachers can rediscover their diverse and interesting potential. (MSE)

This paper describes mathematics as a social practice and bases this idea on recent developments in diverse domains of research related to mathematical cognition. In the context of theoretical development, this paper is concerned with the question originally raised by Socrates but rephrased from the perspective of social practice theory: What kind…

This book outlines positive strategies for bridging the gap between teachers and students through personal, academic, and social connections, offering a guide to help teachers create a personalized refuge of safety and risk-taking for all students. After explaining why and how to use the book, information is presented on: "Identifying…