A note-taking aid for individuals with blindness or handwriting difficulties is proposed, in which students record the important ideas from a speech using a delayed recording system. The system stores a portion of the speech on an endless loop of tape as a buffer until the decision to record is made. Prototype test results are discussed. (JDD)

A well-designed college course syllabus can serve a variety of purposes: as an agreement between teacher and student; as a device for communicating intent, seriousness, and expectations; as an overall plan of action for the course; and as a cognitive map of the course to share with students. This article identifies the major components of a good…

Examined spontaneous teacher/child discourse in two year-one Sydney classrooms, one where the majority of children came from non-English-speaking backgrounds and one where all children were native English speakers. Significant differences existed between the discourse in each classroom in terms of the frequency of the teacher's speech and the…

Describes literature discussion groups and the role of talk in them. Examines the stories of three teachers who ran into roadblocks in literature discussion groups and turned their roadblocks into questions and inquiries. Discusses the important insights they discovered about talk, literacy, students, and themselves as they inquired. (SR)

Lectures of two first-semester teaching assistants, one native American English speaker (NS) and one Korean (NNS) whose discourse was perceived as difficult to follow, were examined. It is argued that the NS's hypotatic constructions provide explicit signals of logical and prominence relations that are missing in the NNS's discourse. (51…

The forms, functions, and targets of the spontaneous communication of 30 children (age 4-13) with autism were observed during school activities. Communication patterns varied by cognitive level and autism severity, but the prototypical communicative event involved a child directing a motoric form of communication toward the teacher to request…

Explores power relationships between teacher and participants in an inservice course as the tutor attempts to shift responsibility away from a teacher and toward the learners. Sees episodes of silence during the reflective discussions as particularly significant in the dynamic and changing awareness. Uses fictional writing to express feelings,…

This study examined the correspondence between spoken English and Australasian Signed English when used simultaneously by four teachers of deaf Australian students. The teachers were more than 90 percent accurate in reproducing on their hands what they were saying but at some cost to the oral aspects of the simultaneous communication. (Author/JDD)

Four hearing-impaired children (ages 9-11) with learning problems answered questions focused on picture description. The children understood question words but answered the questions incorrectly 75 percent of the time. The children had difficulty determining the topic of discourse, were confused by the sequence in classroom discourse, and relied…

Identifies the weaknesses of traditional methods of assessing course success and illustrates, through a case study, how a more elaborate system of course evaluation through needs analysis was carried out at the University of Brunei Darussalam. (11 references) (GLR)

Encourages teachers to allow students to engage in conversation and discuss what they do and do not understand. Discusses different types of questions found in classroom instruction: factual questions, reasoning questions, and open questions. To promote communication, teachers must change their beliefs about instruction. (PDD)

Investigates communication in a coeducational, undergraduate calculus class in order to develop an understanding of students' experiences at this stage in the science pipeline. Focuses on the filtering of females from the science pipeline. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

Describes a multicultural inclusive preschool program in which children with and without disabilities communicate by using English, Spanish, and sign language. How students were taught a cross-cultural language lesson by making tostadas during International Foods Week is reviewed. Lists additional lessons with language-based and cultural themes.…

With its focus on language teaching and learning processes, French immersion research of the 1900s deals with a number of issues of significance to teachers. These include the following: early development of strategic competence, the role of the first language, problematic language features, and learning needs. Field studies of classroom…

Reflects on the articles in this themed issue. Discusses three recurring ideas: the need for devoting time to read, time to talk, and time to write; the organic nature of talk about writing craft; and the importance of teachers writing with their students, reading with their students, and making plenty of time to talk together. (SR)