This dissertation aims at investigating the speech act of disagreement as it is carried out linguistically in an English-language asynchronous online forum between unacquainted Americans and Thais (TEFL and TESL). The analysis and interpretation of the data are based on both "emic" and "etic" perspectives, in the framework of…

This pilot study aimed to address persistent gaps in the research regarding effective professional development models associated with reading comprehension pedagogy in content area classrooms (science). An appropriate instructional model was developed, ("Do-Read-Do") which attempts to embed the explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies…

Asynchronous discussions are a useful instructional resource in the online communication course. In discussion groups students have the opportunity to actively participate and interact with students and the instructor. Asynchronous communication allows for flexibility because "participants can interact with significant amounts of time between…

Research on multicultural learning has focused on formal and local settings, such as schools, but young people are interacting with, and therefore learning from, informal settings and nonlocal contexts, including online platforms. That is, multicultural education is no longer limited to formal institutions, local contexts, or the printed word.…

Internet has a potential that will lead to important changes in our social life and our attitudes, behaviors and habits. Indeed, Internet seems to have started to change a number of social structures from family, friendship to business relationships. Internet serves many purposes such as information transfer, academic research, entertainment,…

Continuous learning is essential in academic and business environments for the 21st century learner as success, survival, and growth lean toward the educator answering the question, "Which educational design best facilitates educators in becoming learner-focused while producing adaptive completers in this ubiquitous learning…

Digital technologies make possible new avenues for sharing and accessing literacy research and practices worldwide. Among the myriad of options available, web seminars have become popular online learning venues. The current investigation is part of Global Conversations in Literacy Research (GCLR), a longitudinal and qualitative study now in its…

This article presents a Vygotsky-inspired analysis of how a teacher mediated a "thinking aloud" whole-group discussion in a 6th grade mathematics classroom. This discussion centered on finding patterns in a triangular array of consecutive numbers as a phase towards building recursive and direct algebraic formulas. By a "thinking aloud" discussion…

This article describes the significant gains in student achievement in an urban elementary school when teachers worked together to develop, administer, and review assessment items. In grade-level teams, teachers completed item analyses and engaged in instructional conversations about students' needed instruction. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which Swedish seventh grade students (12 and 13 years old) handle chance encounters. Four groups of students working in pairs participated in the study. In the group discussions, which were tape-recorded and fully transcribed, the students were encouraged to explore strategies for winning a…

The author devised a classroom activity that facilitates discussion and increases awareness about sexual assault. Students read scenarios involving sexual situations that varied in ambiguity, then labeled whether the situations involved a sexual assault. Students also gave their definitions of sexual assault and completed an evaluation of the…

The qualitative study reported in this article analyzes how novice learners develop the interpretive mode (as outlined in Standard 1.2 of the "Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century," 1996, 1999 ) in a classroom setting when reading a literary text in a foreign language (FL). Using unmotivated looking through conversation…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived differences between asynchronous online discussions and face-to-face discussions in a classroom setting. The students' reflections were analysed by following a qualitative research approach. The results showed that atmosphere, response, efficiency, interactivity and communication were the…

This article reports a case study of how staff in a new university in England are making choices about their use of time. Weekly time logs, small discussion groups and individual interviews reveal that the principle of "service" is embedded in the professional identities of staff. The paper explores how this perspective is reinforced by…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how concept cartoons, together with other diagnostic and scaffolding tools, could be used in formative assessment, to stimulate talk and argumentation among students in small groups, as part of peer-assessment and self-assessment; and to provide diagnostic feedback about students' misconceptions to the…