Two methods of researching second language learning are described, analyzed, and compared: student diaries giving a first-person account of the second language learning experience; and participant observation, in which the observer is in the language learning situation recording in descriptive terms all possible data about the situation.…

The seven studies reported in this paper represent successive attempts to explain the inability of observers to differentiate "good" counseling from "bad" counseling. Essentially, the researchers found that subjects, both undergraduate education majors and graduate counseling students, did not rate a videotaped counselor's performance as more…

Meaning does not reside in the text or the reader but results from interactions between text, reader, and the interpretive communities that the readers belong to or that influence them. These interpretive communities are those communities or authorities that influence the reader/writer in interpreting texts, with resulting ideational,…

Recognizing that no single evaluation instrument or procedure could provide a genuine measure of teaching effectiveness, the University of Southern Mississippi devised an evaluation system specifically designed for composition that consists of four components: student evaluation, observation of classroom activity, evaluation of a set of marked…

The study was designed to assess the impact of high school community service programs on students' social development. These programs enable students to earn academic credit through volunteer work in various agencies. Their work is supervised by teachers and on-site supervisors. Frequently a seminar or class is part of the program. Eight community…

Both the popular and professional literatures commonly suggest that the more involvement by fathers in their infants' routine care the better. However, empirical support for this position is far from conclusive. Although several researchers have reported a positive relationship between father involvement and father-infant relations, others have…

A study examined the role of talk in the writing act. The study utilized participant observational techniques in an attempt to discover how talk was implicated in all stages of writing. Subjects were three fourth, fifth, and/or sixth grade informants, with one student emerging as the key informant in the study. Results indicated that talk appeared…

This research assessed whether, within the context of a classroom session, the pattern of questioning and discussion used by teachers is related to the pattern of student responses. Clear and comprehensible linkages between questioning and answering behaviors were found in this study. These results indicate that researchers can help resolve the…

Aims of classroom-centered research on second language learning and teaching are considered and contrasted with the experimental approach. Attention is briefly directed to methodological problems of experiments, such as controlling classroom events in various ways, and to conceptual weaknesses with study variables. In contrast, classroom-centered…

Student teaching supervisors have been criticized for failing to assume more active instructional leadership roles in the professional development of their charges. In this article, strategies are presented for expanding the role of the supervisor and thereby enhancing the learning climate for prospective teachers. In general, the strategies…

The main purpose of this study was to trace the development of children's awareness that they can learn and to describe the forms of their ideas of learning. A complementary aim was to account for the extent to which such conceptions can be found at different levels of development. The investigation consisted of two observational studies and a…

"Illuminative evaluation," as defined by Parlett and Hamilton, "is not a standard methodological package but a general strategy. It aims to be both adaptable and eclectic. The choice of research tactics follows not from research doctrine, but from decisions in each case as to the best available techniques; the problem defines the…

As more and more writing process oriented teachers must oversee, design, and execute classroom intervention studies, a discrepancy arises from the inappropriateness of the process style to the product orientation of research. In establishing experimental procedures, researchers try to account for all variables, but for process-oriented teachers,…

Whereas previous research on writing focused on measurable aspects of written products, more recent research has focused on the processes of writing, using such research methodologies as laboratory case studies, naturalistic studies, quasiproduct studies that interpret results in terms of process, and studies that have unique procedures as a…

Thirty third and fourth grade students were observed over two entire school days to examine the nature of instruction and academic responding time for students of high, middle, and low teacher-perceived behavioral competence. Across all groups, it was found that students spent about 45 minutes in a typical school day actively engaged in academic…