Studied talk in early childhood contexts and the formative influences of adults' gendered language interaction. The types of discourse studied include children's conversations during pretend play construction and role play, parent and child reports of past speech, parent and child reminiscences of past events, and children's persuasive…

Examines the communication strategies used by adult second-language learners of English when performing contrasting pedagogic tasks. The article suggests that existing descriptions of communication strategies ignore the pragmatic function of such devices in interactive discourse and offers a reclassification that differentiates strategies…

One element in debates over core college curricula, balancing breadth and depth of reading, is addressed from the point of view of Paulo Freire and his theory of critical literacy. Three levels at which a college course based on Freirean principles might be developed are outlined. At each level, the aim is to enhance breadth of perspective through…

Presents observations of 15-member literature discussion group in a fifth-grade classroom. Shows that even in such groups, intended to create a more democratic forum where students' voices are heard and valued, factors like gender, cultural background, and status play a role in whose ideas get expressed and are actually listened to. (SR)

Examined the discourse patterns of teachers from intensive English programs in the United States. Through examining the verbal interaction among teachers and students and focusing on teacher talk specifically, patterns and features were observed that helped facilitate productive interaction and contributed to moving students and teachers closer to…

Looks at learner initiative in teacher-fronted activities, and how this can influence classroom interaction. Extracts from lesson transcripts of adult evening classes in Italy are used to give precise definition of what is meant by learner initiative and to illustrate how it can change interaction patterns. (Author/VWL)

Explores social interactive features of synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC)--commonly known as "chat"--as such features unfolded in real time and developed over a 9-week period in two college Spanish courses. Invoked a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical framework and employed discourse analysis as a research tool to…

Discusses an approach to analyzing teacher talk in second-language classrooms that assumes communicative classrooms are characterized by teacher talk reflecting external communication patterns. Argues that this analysis is over-simplistic, ignoring the reality of the classroom context and the features that make for effective communication within…

Transcripts of classroom interaction illustrate how emphasis on lesson planning and communicative activities in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher training, and dominance of a coursebook, had unintended consequences in three specific areas, leading to inhibition of teacher-student interaction, avoidance of genuine communicative…

Characterizes the phraseology of introductions from a corpus of 150 cancer research articles. Explains the fixedness and idiosyncratic nature of scientific phraseology in terms of discourse processes such as reformulation. Argues for the design of a representative and specialized corpus of the research article and a contextual approach to corpus…

Examined teacher-child and child-child talk collected as part of a longitudinal, ethnographic study of life in a vertically-grouped multilingual class in an inner-city first school in the North of England. Reveals the complex, subtle processes involved in the interactive negotiation of meanings between teachers and learners and the joint…

Traced four Canadian Grade 10 students' descriptions and interpretations of evaluative discourse in their junior high school, focusing on the use of effort and ability attributions to explain successes and failures. Each student participated individually in five semi-structured interviews with the researcher that were audiotaped, transcribed, and…

Examines constructions of adolescence and pathology and their relation to human service intervention. Locates history of related discourses along a trajectory of 20th-century capitalism, attending especially to racialized, gendered, and class-based aspects. Argues that the youth treatment industry may not be preparing youth for healthy adulthood,…

Focuses on how one teacher examined classroom discourse through a unit on tornadoes and natural catastrophes. Defines various types of discourse and discusses how discourse in a 6th grade class was analyzed. Details some of the activities that engaged students. (DDR)

Analyzes assessment policy and practice from a critical/poststructuralist perspective, focusing on two main aspects of everyday classroom discourse--speech acts and metaphor. The analysis reveals the existence of diverse discourses (antagonistic, behaviorist, and psychometric) densely congregated in (British) infant classrooms and complex in their…