Transcendent teacher-learner relationships are spontaneously occurring ones in which teacher and learner transcend, or go beyond, their traditional interactive roles; transcendent teacher-learner interaction is mutually reciprocal, liberating, and growth-oriented. This paper discusses data collected from students enrolled in an early childhood…

A college classroom in a southern U.S. university served as the location for a case study on the effects of gender on communication. Of 31 students in the class, only 8 were men. The majority of class time was devoted to discussion; a typical class consisted of a presentation of terms and theories in a text, and an effort to find "real life"…

This study examined how collaborative processes of communication and knowledge construction over time and space are structured and organized utilizing two-way video conferencing strategies for distance education in undergraduate child development courses at two universities. Several qualitative research methodologies were employed to document…

Electronic mail is becoming more and more common in contemporary organizations. Despite the technological sophistication of e-mail, questions remain regarding the value of the innovation for organizations. The assumption that the presence of e-mail, in and of itself, obviates internal communication problems is inaccurate and problematic. This…

This book provides many diverse ideas for creating a learning environment that is alive with discovery and discussion, but peaceful and respectful, too. The book offers activities and practices from classrooms all over the United States that focus on year-long practices that promote a sense of community: 20-minute class meetings, effective…

Despite substantial research on children's literacy performance outside school, relatively few studies have examined the classroom context of writing development, and even fewer have considered the relationship between general classroom discourse and writing. This paper presents an ecological framework for studying the relation between classroom…

The language of a literate classroom is profoundly impacted by that which is included, excluded, ignorantly condoned, and perpetually presented with distortions. The article analyzes seven comprehensive frameworks: (1) diverse voices; (2) identities of the language users; (3) present and absent curriculum; (4) cognitive structures influencing…

A study examined the gender and status (defined as traditional versus nontraditional student) differences on the Classroom Interaction Rules Survey (CIRS). The research questions asked if significant differences exist between males and females and traditional and nontraditional students in terms of compliance with and importance of implicit…

This guide provides practical suggestions for creating communicative activities to teach a second language. The first chapter defines communicative language instruction and provides examples of communicative and non-communicative behaviors on the part of student and teacher. The second chapter suggests teacher behaviors and techniques that…

Educators are moving toward models of instruction that contain a myriad of interaction patterns among teachers and students. This shift from didactic teaching models to intensely involving designs is difficult for teachers, but is made easier if seen as a gradual change. This book provides an overview of 12 cooperative interaction designs for the…

This study describes a program designed to increase student background knowledge in order to improve reading comprehension. The targeted first grade class is located in a Midwest, middle class, metropolitan community. More than half of the school's population is identified as low-income. Evidence for the existence of the problem was obtained…

The purpose of this study was to describe the validation of a new instrument called the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ). This instrument is meant for use in assessing students' perceptions of their interactions with their teacher by focusing on their teachers' communicating behaviors. The study described in this paper occurred…

A study compared the language of interactions of teachers with students who are native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English in academic writing tutorial sessions. Data were gathered through discourse analysis of transcripts of 12 tutorials and interviews with the participants. Analysis of talk examined topic initiation,…

This paper presents a very comprehensive overview of the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach, presenting the views of critics as well as supporters. CLT views language as a vehicle for communication, and it recognizes as its aim the teaching of communicative competence, which includes grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and…

Reports both the development of a scale designed to measure the levels of respect offered by teachers to their students and the results of a study which indicate that it is possible to train raters to employ the scale reliably. (Author/JM)