This series, designed for use in inservice teacher workshops, addresses the question, "How do children and teachers use language to get things done?" The transcribed classroom discourse presented and discussed in each volume illustrates functional language in a real context based on the videotaping of undoctored classroom events from…

An analysis is presented of students' attitudes in a leadership training program and the relationships between those attitudes. Student attitudes toward the program facilitator as a person affected their attitudes toward that person as a teacher and role model, also affecting the student's sense of belonging in the group. Student's acceptance of…

This paper stresses the idea that teacher communication in the classroom affects the self-concept of students. It begins by reviewing the process of communication and the effect of self-concept on that process by providing and discussing an intrapersonal communication process model. It then provides instructor guidelines for self-concept…

Dynamics of discussion in the classroom are analyzed based on data from 64 classrooms in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Among the discourse problems considered are the separation of answers from questions, the relationship between the presupposition of an utterance and the speaker/hearer assumptions, and the relationship between utterance form and…

The material in this handbook was developed with the idea of stimulating (presumably adult) students to ask questions in a spontaneous manner. Through these questions, the students elicit the newspaper story from the teacher, who arouses their interest by divulging one leading fact. Fifteen exemplary newspaper stories are summarized to initiate…

BASED IN PART ON A SKINNERIAN LEARNING ORIENTATION, 4 DIMENSIONS OF THE TEACHER'S BEHAVIOR ARE HYPOTHESIZED AS IMPORTANT IN MEDIATING CLASSROOM LEARNING--(1) INFORMATION GIVING (IG), (2) RESPONSE ELICITATION (RE), (3) FEEDBACK (F), AND (4) TEACHER CONTROL (TC). FROM 34 TO 42 5-MINUTE OBSERVATIONS WERE OBTAINED FOR EACH OF THE 4 TEACHERS IN A…

This review of the literature related to research on oral communication in the classroom pursues two issues: the types of oral contributions students make and whether those types are related to school achievement. In considering research on oral communication in classrooms, the paper looks at information that considers whether the communication…

To determine whether increased teacher use of student ideas would produce increased verbal initiation, an experiment was conducted with 16 second grade teachers and their classes. First, a series of observations were made under normal class conditions to determine the usual percentages of teacher use of student ideas and student initiation. Then,…

In view of the many and varied language problems in the typical Australian school, a general course in language studies is essential for all teachers. This paper attempts to suggest a basic orientation and a set of guiding principles for such a course. The content of a general language course is discussed in terms of what a teacher needs to know…

This paper examines the problems of learning disabled children and discusses possibilities for improving their self-concept and attitude toward school. It first notes the suspected link between juvenile delinquency and learning disabilities and suggests that initial efforts to help learning disabled children be directed at the lower-class urban…

This book presents a positive approach to solving classroom problems. It contains eight chapters, the first of which describes some of the problems faced by teachers and offers a solution in the form of group consultation--a situation in which teachers can share their problems. Chapter 2 discusses the consultation group method. It describes the…

The goal of this panel was to develop the means to improve teachers' work on the basis of improved understanding of linguistic phenomena in school settings. The panel organized its research approaches and programs around ways in which effective communication in the classroom is different from everyday talk to which all children are enculturated,…

Intended for use by teachers who are concerned with making effective responses to conflict in the classroom, this booklet describes the nature of adolescent conflict and the differences between conflict, competition, and cooperation. The theory section of this work analyzes some of the major concepts and research findings emphasized in the study…

"Infralanguage," a non-verbal channel of communication, exists within daily conversation. Two divisions of "infralanguage" have been identified: the non-stated thematic, that is, themes presented in topics of discourse; and the sequence of those themes within conversation. This unspoken communication is implicit and ubiquitous…

Cross cultural research concerns nearly every teacher because of the proliferation of multicultural public schools and the fact that cultural differences cannot be ignored in the classroom. Communication in this situation requires a recognition of the cultural differences and in many cases the enhancement of these differences. To facilitate…