This paper proposes to overcome the traditional essentialist and dichotomous ways of conceptualising language and language pedagogies, i.e. to go beyond linguistic purist perspectives. Analysing bilingual teaching practices in a science lesson, the paper proposes that practical bilingual pedagogies can be developed to help students in bilingual…

This study examined the effects of pre-structuring discussion threads on group performance in computer-supported collaborative argumentation where students labeled their messages as arguments, challenges, supporting evidence, and explanations on a threaded discussion board. In the pre-structured group students were required to post supporting and…

It is argued that assessment of student writing can be enhanced by adoption of a functional approach to linguistic analysis; through their research, functional grammarians have provided language teachers with criteria for evaluating the extent to which learners have gained control of the grammatical and discourse features of a variety of…

Foreign or second language (L2) acquisition literature frequently makes the claim that, by not facilitating interaction, distance learning fails to create the conditions necessary for achieving the goals of widely accepted L2 communicative curriculum. This assumption is not as yet supported by any empirical evidence from L2 acquisition research.…

The process of embedding, a term used in generative grammar to refer to a construction in which a sentence is included within another sentence, is examined as it occurs in Yoruba literature. Examples are drawn from Yoruba praise poetry, in both written and oral form and within Yoruba novels. Forms of embedding identified include those to draw…

A study investigated the effects of the language used by native-English-speaking teachers on limited-English-proficient (LEP) students' opportunities to participate in classroom discussions. Three experienced secondary school science teachers were observed, interviewed, and videotaped over a period of a year. Each classroom contained 3-4 LEP…

Two studies investigated whether two conventions in the use of adversative conjunctions in English are acquired by native Spanish-speakers who are highly proficient in English. The two conventions are: (1) selection of "but" to introduce foreground information and (2) use of "although" to introduce background information. Subjects in the first…

A study investigated whether male and female tutors, as institutional representatives, use the same pragmatic features in their language. Ten graduate-student writing tutors, five male and five female, were recorded in sessions with both male and female students at a university writing center. Transcripts were analyzed for turn transition type…

The study provides a description of the verbal derivational suffixation, postinflectional derivation, enclitics, and particles of the Central Siberian Yupik Eskimo language as spoken on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska and on the coast of Chukotka, in the Soviet Union. It also shows how these elements participate in a network of four tightly-knit…

Constructivist approaches to therapy that view the therapist and patient as equal participants in co-creating a new dialogue render aspects of experience invisible. What is missing is an awareness of the dominant structures in society and the dominant ways of thinking and speaking. Three key factors need to be understood: first, the way meanings…

A 6-minute, videotaped segment of discourse in a medical school classroom problem-based learning session is analyzed for evidence of the kinds of meanings being constructed, their functions, and the linguistic, kinesic, and other means by which they are being made. Three interdependent discourse agendas are distinguished: construction,…

A study attempts to refine the discourse domain hypothesis of second language learning, which holds that a second language is acquired with reference to speaker-specific topic areas rather than as a general, context-independent competence, by examining the discourse domains developed by one non-native speaker of English in conversations with two…

In a beginning level creative writing class called "Narration and Description," two student-written stories were collectively peer edited during each session. The class was required to read the student texts before class, critique them, and, with the guidance of four assigned student facilitators, discuss the texts with the author and…

The pragmatic expressions of Argentine Spanish (e.g., "bueno, viste, no? mira") are defined as deictic signals. They are deictic because they indicate elements of the communicative situation: transitions between text segments, conversational roles, or the social relationship between participants. They also signal contextual suppositions…

The purpose of this report is to explore academic language on a broader discourse-level of analysis. Examining three linguistic exchanges from a bilingual elementary school, the report discusses how academic tasks influence academic language discourse styles (registers) in fifth-grade class lessons. Two dominant theories are drawn from the…