The purpose of this study was to find out how pupils reached agreement and handled disagreement in science group discourse. Fifth-grade students were observed in small groups and participated in face-to-face interviews. Pupils' methods of reaching agreement--including using social psychological means--and ways of addressing disagreement--including…

A study explored the way various levels of narrative voice in historical texts influence high school students as they carry out a common historical problem-solving task. Participants, 30 students in a suburban Seattle (Washington) high school, wrote a historical essay after reading an introductory text excerpt and six historical documents. Half of…

A study compared the language of interactions of teachers with students who are native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English in academic writing tutorial sessions. Data were gathered through discourse analysis of transcripts of 12 tutorials and interviews with the participants. Analysis of talk examined topic initiation,…

Repudiates the theory that black dialect has African origins. Supports the British Isles influence theory. (FL)

Lexical phrases such as deictic locutions, phrasal constraints, sentence builders, and situational utterances are examined using categories from artificial intelligence. It is argued that these and other types of patterned speech should be carefully organized and given a greater place in English as a Second Language curricula than at present. (PMJ)

Presents four articles in the context of workshop discussions on characteristics of environments that promote language development: (1) "Children's Conversations: Why are They Important?"; (2) "Ways of Talking: Respecting Differences"; (3) Paul's Talk: Teachers and Parents Look at a Child's Language"; and (4) "In the…

Focuses on the understanding of the concept of function and presents discussions of the topological properties of functions and of students' mathematical thinking when they are asked to determine whether a property of a function is a topological property or not. Contains 15 references. (DDR)

Examines synchronous computer-mediated communication used in a university environment. Compared the level of participation among students and contrasted their written German chatroom discourse with their oral discourse produced in small face-to-face discussion groups. (Author/VWL)

Examines code switching occurring during group work in English-as-a-Second-Language classes in Spain in which the learners share a first language. Argues that the discourse produced in this context is layered as the participants oscillate between a literal (off-record) and a nonliteral (on-record) frame. Suggests that the significance of language…

A study investigated late emergence, in learners of English as a Second Language, of the ability to interpret object gaps in purpose clauses (PCs). Subjects were 34 adult native speakers of French. Results indicate difficulty interpreting only PCs with prepositional object gaps, supporting the hypothesis that syntactically marked construction may…

Describes the contributions portfolios can make within a discourse community awareness framework through a "disciplinary portfolio" pedagogy. Outlines the case for such a pedagogy and describes a teaching situation in which the disciplinary portfolio has been employed within an English for academic purposes context. (34 references)…

Presents a case for teaching the pragmatic (discourse-based) features of English intonation to foreign students of English as a Second Language. Advocates a systematic approach to teaching these functions of English intonation through a consciousness-raising methodology that uses authentic academic oral texts. (25 references) (Author/CK)

Compares two separate classroom ethnographies in higher educational institutions--one on African American students learning academic writing and another on Sri Lankan Tamil students learning English for general purposes. Attempts to overcome the separation of the concerns of bilingual and bidialectal minority students in English-language teaching.…

Outlines issues in the teaching of discourse organization to learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Describes such discourse features as turn-taking, turn-allocation, transaction, exchanges, repair strategies, topic selection and change, and error correction, and suggests classroom techniques and activities for teaching them. (MSE)

Examines the processes employed by subjects in Hong Kong engaged in an English-as-a-Second-Language discourse cloze test. Think-aloud protocols obtained from test-takers indicate the reasoning and strategies employed in selecting items to complete gaps in the cloze passage. Findings reveal the test-taking behavior of the subjects and presents a…