In this paper, I continue a conversation initiated by Barbara Applebaum on how to manage irreconcilable difference, harmful language or "words that wound" and various implications of power in the classroom. Referencing emerging works on the nature of speech and silence, classroom power and queer identity, I pose three questions to Applebaum in…

Drawing upon observer participation in a first grade classroom, we present a systemic functional analysis of classroom communication located in relation to social semiotics, cultural historical activity theory, and ecological psychology, relating context to meaning making. Two years of observation include field notes, student assessments, audio…

Over the past few decades, school teachers have been embracing a number of electronic technologies for use in the classroom. Computers are now prevalent; overhead projectors are being replaced with dynamic teaching tools such as data projection, electronic whiteboards, and video media. One key technology is just beginning to catch up to the…

This article describes 20 strategies to facilitate the participation and learning of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in inclusive settings. Note that although the majority of strategies and accommodations suggested are communication-building techniques geared specifically toward students with ASD, they also reflect sound principles…

This paper discusses a teaching model called community of mathematical inquiry (CMI), characterized by dialogical and inquiry-driven communication and a dynamic structure of intertwined cognitive processes including distributed thinking, mathematical argumentation, integrated reasoning, conceptual transformation, internalization of critical…

This study was conducted with 15 pre-service teachers enrolled in the Reflective Practice Seminar in primary/junior division at a Canadian university. Data were gathered through interviews, informal classroom conversations and reflections over an eight-month period. This article considers the issue of how constructing a professional portfolio…

Over the last decade, teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities across the United States have attempted to respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the increasing diversity that is represented in public schools today. Teacher programs have responded to these challenges by altering courses, curriculum, fieldwork…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to look at the communication preferences of teachers on the basis of high- and low-context distinction. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 275 teachers employed in primary schools in Elazig, Malatya, and Diyarbakir provinces were chosen as the sample group. Cultural communication scale-Turkish scale…

This article examines interactions from tertiary-level foreign languages classes in which students challenge the heteronormative construction of their sexual identity. These interactions are triggered by questions that potentially reference students' real-world identities but which attribute a heteronormative identity to the questions' recipients.…

This article is an attempt to highlight the language situation of bilingual Arab university students who are acquiring English as a second language, and at the same time learning mathematics in the new language of instruction. Furthermore, the article explores the educational implications of the language switch from Arabic to English as they…

An interactive classroom communication system (ICCS) involves the use of remote devices that permit all students in a class to respond to multiple choice questions displayed on a LCD projector. After responses are clicked in, the results are instantly aggregated and displayed in chart form. The purpose of this study was to examine gender…

For the middle school students in a Virtual Reading Group (VRG), it was easy to see their virtual discussion peers and their virtual teacher; all participants appeared simultaneously on a screen, with a separate box for each participating site. In this article, the authors offer an account of how the "realness" of virtual others was constructed by…

Syllabus use in higher education instruction is ubiquitous, yet what actually constitutes a syllabus remains unclear. The authors assessed the contents of 1000 syllabi, sampled from the Internet, based on 26 criteria determined from a literature review of recommended syllabus components. Syllabi contents were assessed according to four categories:…

Research on language classroom code-switching ranges from describing both teachers' and learners' first language and target language use to making connections between code-switching and student learning. However, few studies compare differences in practice between native and non-native speaker teachers and even fewer consider culture of learning…

This paper reports on research that examines the use of acknowledging moves in the single-sex group discussions of 12-13-year-old girls and boys in their Key Stage 3 Design and Technology lessons. Within structural-functional models of discourse analysis, acknowledging moves are a discourse feature that perform the function of providing feedback…