Focuses on the implications of identity in the construction of classroom culture. Finds that teacher/researchers usually center attention on the students in the room, with the teacher being peripheral. Uses an informal survey to help examine participants' institutions for racial, gender, and class differences. (PA)

Identifies a number of ways that teachers and students can misunderstand and confuse each other with their language-based communications in the classroom. Cultural variations in the formats for teacher-led lessons and child-generated personal experience narratives are described, using research findings from Canadian Inuit and Algonquin…

Discusses the case of Cecilia Lacks, a seasoned high school English teacher from St. Louis, Missouri, who was fired for failing "to censor her students' creative expression." Discusses the author's experiences as a demonstration teacher in which lively and imaginative classroom discussions were greeted with disdain by the school principal for…

Describes a strategy to incorporate interactive and cooperative methods into oral reports of term papers. Introduces fresh perspectives into the subject of discussion and sparks new interests on the part of the students. (JRH)

Examines use of behavior alteration techniques (BATs) to gain student compliance in the Chinese context. Finds that Chinese college teachers use most the BATs that United States college teachers use; use many BATs even more frequently; but communicate behavior alteration messages that differ from those used by United States teachers. Notes that…

Assesses effects of grade level, teacher liking, influence strategy type, and cultural orientation. Notes that students reported more resistance with increasing age, and ratings of refusal and comparison strategies increased with grade level. Rates reported resistance, refusals, and comparison resistance strategies as less likely in response to a…

Presents the idea that learning through active resistance makes the information that students discover more valuable to them. Provides examples from classroom experiences. (EV)

Three teachers describe classroom experiences with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. These narratives demonstrate the importance of the process of conversational classroom transactions in the development of basic writing, reading, and teaching skills. (DB)

Compares radical and social constructivism, noting that in radical constructivism the role of the teacher in inducting the learner into existing discourse is inadequately explained, while social constructivist theory offers more to the practitioner. Argues that the former's overemphasis on personal construct theory and almost dismissive attitude…

Discusses ways to improve the quality of teachers' classroom questions to help children clarify their thoughts, feel that they are worthy people, and understand their world. Asking open-ended questions that allow for discussion, encouraging children to answer questions orally, and listening to students' answers are urged. (CR)

Focuses on subteaching, a phenomenon that regularly appears in pupil-run group work. Junior high pupils positioned themselves as subteachers and exploited a series of teacher-like strategies. (Author/VWL)

Questions pedagogical frameworks that perpetuate semantic properties and representations of meanings that no longer hold true in changing classroom realities. Proposes the need for learning new languages, for speaking through a more dialogical, metonymic back and forth movement in the discourse of classrooms. (PM)

Examines conversations between teachers and students and between peers to describe the nature of the instructional scaffolding that occurred as students constructed meaning of literary and nonfiction texts. Describes ways in which scaffolding was woven in and out of the fabric of the conversations. Finds that episodes of scaffolded instruction…

Describe a program which encourages content area teachers to change their instructional styles during classroom discussions of textbook readings. Presents an associated five-stage model for linking teacher assessment procedures with professional growth. Notes that at each stage the model highlights what teachers experience and understand about…

An English-as-a-Second-Language teacher describes an exercise she uses with a class that meets only once a week. This exercise is to encourage students to use their language skills with each other, and to express themselves about topics of interest to individual students and the entire class. (CB)