Analysis of a series of computer science seminars indicates that use of the discourse marker "so" in dialogic talk is not random, rather it plays an important role in orienting the listener to the overall structure of the seminar. Analysis shows how the discourse marker occurs in specific environments, with specific prosodic features, and that its…

Suggests that unproblematized Eurocentrism characterizes adult education; explores the works of Cornel West and Lucius Outlaw, who racialize adult education discourse. Considers implications of their perspectives on critical thinking and offers recommendations for challenging the myth of neutral nonimpositional adult education. (Contains 74…

Examines textbooks and classrooms from antiquity through the 19th century in search of historical precedents for mathematical communication in the form of dialogue between teacher and student. (KHR)

Uses discourse processes to examine how two bilingual elementary school teachers in three classrooms framed science as disciplinary inquiry. Data sources were drawn from studies encompassing multiple years and multiple teachers and included extensive videotaped records of classroom interaction. Identifies cultural themes that included ways in…

Focuses on ways in which the students and teacher in a content based German as a foreign language class used repair in order to negotiate meaning and form in their classroom. Discusses how repair in this institutional setting differed from repair in mundane conversation and how repair was used differently by the students and the teacher.…

Presents findings of extensive investigation (n=70) into interactive and discourse styles of a nationally representative sample of primary teachers. Explores impact of official endorsement of interactive whole class teaching in the teaching of England's National Literacy Strategy to examine whether it is promoting pupils' higher interaction and…

Using a feminist postmodern perspective, examines excerpts from traditional superintendency texts and several samples of women superintendent narratives to consider whether a reconsideration of superintendency discourse could support a reconception of the superintendency. (Contains 80 references.) (PKP)

Comments on the changed expectations of what it means to be a professional given the discursive and self-reflective turn in professional practice and the mistrust between the hard medical sciences and the soft social sciences. Discusses the necessary but difficult collaboration between observer and observed, researcher and researched, and the…

Analyzes an apologetic exchange between General Motors (GM) and NBC in 1992-93 over the safety of GM's C/K trucks. Concludes that NBC and GM used "kategoria-based apologiae," a heavy-handed strategy, in their interchange, but that, when used correctly, the strategy can be an important resource in challenging inaccurate and/or misleading…

Employs N. Fairclough's model of critical discourse analysis to explore the roles that public relations practitioners play in discursive struggles. Analyzes the discursive practices employed by practitioners in the research, redesign, and training phases of discourse transformation--transformations that emerge from discursive struggles engaged in…

Discusses Prince's (1992) reanalysis of the information status of noun phrases (NPs) into two cross-cutting distinctions, one between NPs denoting entities that are new or old with respect to the discourse and another between NPs denoting entities that, in the speaker's estimation, are new or old with respect to the addressee. (Nine references)…

Investigates how discursive practices in a physics class were constrained by social forces associated with the larger context. Reports that in addition to constructivism, belief sets that shaped the enacted curriculum related to time, content coverage, and examinations. Provides examples of students accepting the viability of scientific claims…

Investigates whether the locus of persuasion of the metaphor "A is B" lies in the valence of B, as widely assumed, or in the valence of the metaphor ground, what A and B share. Indicates that global affect toward B does not transfer onto A and that metaphorical persuasion is a distinct process meriting further investigation. (SR)

Using conversation analysis, examines one sequence of interaction during the closing stage of a business negotiation in English among four speakers--three native Mandarin speakers who speak fluent English and one native British English speaker. Attempts to reveal how their cultural beliefs and values inform their conversational styles. Notion of…

Explores narratives about teacher work articulated through representations of substitute teachers, using this representation to render visible assumptions governing boundaries of professionalism. The article discusses professional teachers as constructed in educational reform; images of substitute teachers (incompetent, unqualified, deviant…