Classroom studies indicate that turn-taking--when a teacher asks a question or assigns a reading turn, the child responds, and the teacher reinforces or corrects--is the format of most school lessons. The problem with this format is that it emphasizes pupil response without providing for teacher explanation and the other forms of substantive…

A study used children's definitions to explore the culture of the classroom from the perspective of the child. Definitions for school-related terms were elicited from first graders in two classrooms of a public elementary school in the Chicago metropolitan area. After having been acclimated to the presence of the researchers, the students were…

Noting Martin Buber's rejection of both the permissive (individualistic) and the authoritative models of education and his dislike of clear epistemologies or systematic pedagogies, this paper examines Buber's work as an organized philosophical underpinning for dialogue in the classroom. The paper details Buber's approach to education as an…

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…

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…

There can be little doubt that one of the main reasons for the present interest in the study of the varieties of English and their implications for language teaching is the way in which these varieties impinge on one another. Mixed populations from different ethnic sources, geographical areas, and language backgrounds find their representations in…

Happy, neutral, and unhappy visual expressions were combined with positive, neutral, and negative intonations of positive, neutral, and negative messages to investigate congruent and incongruent verbal/nonverbal classroom communication. The 53 students in the study viewed pictures of their teacher, listened to a recording of their teacher, then…

Network analysis, a research methodology that uses interpersonal relationships as the unit of analysis in identifying communication structures, was used in a study of college classroom communication to determine what communication network factors were associated with student grades. Questionnaires asking for student perceptions of their…

Teaching, as a communicative process, ranges between purely message-oriented communication (the goal) and purely language-oriented communication (a means). Classroom discourse ("Close the window", etc.) is useful as a drill but is also message-oriented. Skill in message-oriented communication is acquired only through practice in this kind of…

Sets of photographs of male and female teachers in formal, moderate, and informal attire were rated by 100 college students on five-point scales covering ten positive teacher characteristics. The characteristics were fair, sympathetic toward student problems, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, friendly, flexible, organized, stimulating, well prepared…

NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR CONSISTS MAINLY OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, GESTURES AND BODY MOVEMENTS, AND VOCAL INTONATIONS AND INFLECTIONS. IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A MODEL FOR OBSERVING TEACHER NONVERBAL CLASSROOM ACTIVITY, 12 CATEGORIES WERE DEVELOPED THROUGH THE USE OF TWO DIMENSIONS--ENCOURAGING TO INHIBITING AND TEACHER INITIATED TO TEACHER RESPONSE. THREE…

This paper examines the effect of a teacher's management and turn-allocation acts on student performance during reading group lessons in a first grade classroom. The class was observed and videotaped for a year, and interviews were conducted with both teacher and students. The study focuses specifically on cases where management, turn-allocation,…

Through oral languaging children learn to share ideas, to shape ideas, to structure thought, and to develop thinking skills. In order to plan appropriate and effective oral communication environments, teachers need to be aware of the factors that shape and influence communication environments or situations. There are three scales or continua of…

A description is given of three studies on the effects of teacher clarity upon student achievement. Three low inference variables of teacher clarity--vagueness terms, mazes, and additional unexplained content--were selected for study. Vagueness terms are words or phrases indicating approximation, unclarity, or lack of assurance. A maze is defined…

The relation of communicative skills to language syllabus planning is discussed. The most important part of the foreign language syllabus is course content. Foreign language teaching is primarily a matter of starting with the world of everyday knowledge which the learner already possesses. The foreign language syllabus should be designed to take…