Explores to what extent and for which visitors do free-choice learning settings accomplish their educational mission. Uses data collected at the National Aquarium in Baltimore to determine whether grouping makes it possible to discern the nature of changes in aquarium visitors' conservation knowledge and attitudes. Discusses the effects of learner…

Describes the polyphonic nature of the discursive field of education and the interplay between various contexts and contextual resources. Videotapes eight preservice teachers over a 6-month period as they talked with a tutor. Adopts the concept of intertextuality as a method to identify the polyphony of different voices. Finds some students have a…

Identifies five characteristics of the "feminine style" in political discourse: basing political judgments on concrete, lived experience; valuing inclusivity and the relational nature of being; conceptualizing the power of public office as a capacity to "get things done" and to empower others; approaching policy formation…

Notes that the hallmark of Madonna's career has been her contradictory play with gender roles and images. Argues that while the analytic foci are varied, feminist evaluations of Madonna's contradictory gender play continue to employ binary models of assessing Madonna as either challenging or reinforcing gender roles. Analyzes Madonna's "The…

Examines introductory genres and their various realizations, conventionally used to introduce academic books and variously named as "introduction,""preface,""acknowledgement," and "publishers blurb" to investigate their nature, function, and structure within the context of current theory in genre analysis…

Examines some of the ways in which nature is textualized in technocultural discourses with particular reference to the incorporation of satellite-based weather monitoring and digital imaging technologies into global consumer markets of information and entertainment. Suggests that critical readings of popular media representations of weather are…

Considers how working with accounts of famous trials can involve students in thinking through and critiquing important techniques of argumentation. Discusses how criticism that can be applied to arguments in criminal proceedings can sometimes be applied to arguments in student essays. Discusses how the author incorporates this into her classroom.…

Revisits the author's efforts to deliberately craft words that surfaced in conversations with others. Reflects on the writing of "What Difference Does Difference Make," which won the author the Emig Award. Emphasizes two qualities of pedagogical storytelling that are critically important when that talk is about "difference."…

Questions the communications between two discourse communities, medical practices and health insurance companies. Finds that much of the communication between the medical activity systems and the business insurance systems resulted in contradictions of genres objectives, and agency, and these contradictions were eventually negotiated through…

Examines the place creative writing might logically take in the study of literature. Contends that rather than supplanting conventional literary criticism in the classroom, such writing--what the author terms "imaginative response"--can readily complement and ultimately enrich formal analysis. Defines "imaginative response" broadly as responding…

Recognizes the importance of rethinking how the author's students read particular texts rather than which texts they read. Explores the concept of reading for multiple meanings rather than attempting to nail down "the meaning." Describes how she selected specific ideologies represented in "The Scarlet Letter" to use as various…

Discusses William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and how it encapsulates the idea of the romantic enabler. Considers other stories, fiction and non-fiction, that deal with the phenomenon of "romantic enablers." Describes how the enabling takes place in the titles discussed. (SG)

Investigates why it is that boys often appear to be more confident and adept than girls at speaking out in classroom contexts. Drawing upon a British classroom study of what constitutes "effective" speech in public contexts according to new examination criteria for English at age 16, argues that boys, when behaving in certain ways, appear to be…

Analyzes the discourse during a meeting of three diverse organizations as they attempt to resolve conflicting organizational interests. Explains that the three diverse groups were a waste disposal business, a grass-roots community organization, and a state regulatory agency. Notes that discourse analysis suggests that organizations with different…

In the new economy, increased polarization of rich and poor is supported by the rhetoric of lifelong learning policies focused on training as panacea. Adult educators are urged to analyze the new economy from alternative perspectives, adopt a holistic view of lifelong learning, and advocate more progressive policies. (Contains 47 references.) (SK)