The study reported here sought to obtain the clear articulation of asynchronous computer-mediated discourse needed for Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia's knowledge-creation model. Distinctions were set up between three modes of discourse: knowledge sharing, knowledge construction, and knowledge creation. These were applied to the asynchronous…

In order to collaborate effectively in group discourse on a topic like mathematical patterns, group participants must organize their activities in ways that share the significance of their utterances, inscriptions, and behaviors. Here, we report the results of a ethnomethodological case study of collaborative math problem-solving activities…

This article investigates culture-based instructional design in its purest form through "The Brownies' Book", a children's periodical produced from 1920 to 1921. Methodologies of examination include historical analysis and critical discourse analysis grounded in a Foucaultian framework. The findings extrapolated from the design of "The Brownies'…

This article discusses phonological meanings and their realization in fiction texts and the problematics of their translations. The various views linguists appear to have about what phonological meanings are and how they are expressed linguistically are examined. Furthermore two linguistically oriented approaches on translation theory, Nida's and…

The particular way in which songs (and especially the songs of social movements) accumulate persuasive force has been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. This paper investigates the rhetorical power of the popular musical text, "We Shall Overcome," arguing that the song endures as an almost expected rhetorical feature of any social…

This paper attempts to identify certain regularities and tendencies of metafictional discourse. The focus is on the aspects of its metacommunicative component, which refers to interpersonal relations between the interactants of the narrative. What is interesting is the incorporation of typically oral modes of involvement in the self-conscious…

The concept of the "implied author" often used in literary studies suggests that the requirements of the text demand a being different in significant ways from the actual author. A number of frequently occurring situations indicate that the same concept may be relevant in technical writing: multiple authorship, single-authored texts…

A guide to the use of a computer program for discourse analysis is presented. The program, which derives root-words from other word forms, performs an automated, interactive analysis of words in their immediate context, using a previously developed dictionary program. The program is hierarchically menu-driven. The guide outlines the program's…

This essay analyzes Kenneth Burke's speech ("Revolutionary Symbolism") to the 1935 Writers Congress, a congress intended to explore the relationship between politics and art, and controlled closely by the American Communist Party. The essay maintains that Burke was prepared to offer to the Communist Party and to all…

The relationship of the word "only," one of a class of words known as scalar particles, focus adverbs, focus inducers, or focus-sensitive particles, with the "focus" of the sentence is examined. It is suggested, based on analysis of discourse structure, that this "association with focus" is not an inherent property of…

Conventionality can be defined as discourse used in its dominant or most familiar sense. In nonliteral language, the intended message is different from the overt message. It has been demonstrated that nonliteral language can be comprehended as rapidly as literal language if both are placed in linguistic context. A study examined whether this held…

In an attempt to define rhetorical discourse, the paper examines the speeches of Ahab, the main character from Herman Melville's book, "Moby-Dick." The paper first determines if Ahab's speeches actually fall into the category of rhetorical discourse by examining his major speeches, and then ascertains whether his speeches are bombs…

Issues of empowerment have led rhetoricians as professionals to reexamine the notion of rhetorical history and to recast what is thought to be known of the past as a collection of histories--each necessarily selective, ideologically biased, and incomplete, many potentially conflicting and all, to some degree, creative fictions. Susan Jarratt,…

The argument of this paper is that psychotherapy is essentially a rhetorical process that, as an alternative to or substitute for religious rhetoric, seeks to lead people to a secular state of grace. The paper first acknowledges the work of four scholars who have written about the rhetoric of psychotherapy: Erling Eng, Pedro Lain Entralgo, Lloyd…

Arguing that systematic analysis of message strategies ought to become a major focus of study within the field of speech communication, this paper offers a limited case study to illustrate the kinds of strategies that might be uncovered. The paper places the illustration within a persuasive context and indicates the kinds of approaches a speaker…