Drawing on episodes of teacher-whole-class interaction collected during a collaborative action research project, shows that the same basic IRF structure can take a variety of forms and be recruited by teachers for a wide variety of functions, depending on the goal of the activity that the discourse serves to mediate and on the use that is made of…

Discusses explanations regarding bilingual children's codemixing, including that it is influenced by the particular discourse strategies parents use in conversation with their children. Five French-English bilingual families in Montreal were examined for parental style of response, children's rates of codemixing, and effects of responses on…

Categorization of lone lexical items from one language embedded in another is often difficult due to their ambiguous status as either loanwords or codeswitches. Following variationist principles, a comparative method is used to disambiguate lone English-origin nouns in Acadian-French discourse. (Author/VWL)

Uses discourses on "computer-phobia" and "computer addiction" to describe the cultural work involved and marketing strategies used between 1960s-1990s regarding management of computer fear. Draws on popular discourses, advertisements, and advice literature to explore how the personal computer was successfully connected to middle-class family…

Contributes to scholarship advancing the understanding of human communication. Examines how journalists construct their authority to tell moralizing stories. Shows how journalists construct a discursive strategy asserting their right to serve as moral agents on two levels: as "institutional we," determining the "facts," and as…

Compares the scientific papers produced by two research teams during the AIDS virus hunt. Investigates the "fine line between a bold, explicit rhetoric that may convince as well as offend and a bald, reserved rhetoric that may actually conceal important implications." Demonstrates that going too far across the line in either direction…

Analyzes the effort of a small group of high school seniors to interpret the character of Laertes in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" through a "body biography," a life-sized human outline they filled with images and words representing their understanding of the character. Examines their discussion as they composed their text. (PA)

Describes a system that automatically classifies e-mail messages in the HUMANIST electronic discussion group into one of four classes: question, response, announcement, or administrative. The system's ability to accurately classify a message was compared against manually assigned codes. Results suggested that there was a statistical agreement in…

Argues that there are potential benefits in incorporating computer-based text analyses into methods for researching talk and educational activity in classrooms. Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of some existing approaches to the study of talk and collaborative activity and suggests ways that computer-based analysis of transcribed talk can…

Contributes to scholarship on social movements and the media by analyzing the emergence of media discourses on contraception from 1915 to 1917. Discusses how, considered legally obscene and unfit for public discussion, contraception first made headlines as the "New York Times" covered Margaret Sanger's birth control activism. Shows how…

Investigates fifth-grade children's expectations for stories in relation to knowledge of literature/reading ability. Shows "high readers" included more high-level story propositions and structurally important story information than did low readers; students who included structurally important story information scored higher on knowledge…

Proposes that language awareness cannot be fully developed if it rests on a view of language from within. Suggests that language is always one of a number of semiotic modes in use in any act of communication, and that language may not be central mode. To get sense of modes of communication involved, a condensed account of a science lesson on plate…

Advocates using the construct of voice rather than paradigms, theories, and academic divisions to develop complimentary ways of understanding. Advocates taking inventory of multiple and shifting voices in reviews and critiques of the literature; connecting through exploring shifting concepts and theories; and engaging in joint actions in ways that…

Investigates how nonnative speakers of English approach questions and answers posed to them to provide an explanation of how they resolve communication problems they face at an international conference. Results suggest that there are not many differences observed from Japanese and Korean querists and respondents in terms of their use of discourse…

Explores possibilities for the study of divergent aspects of discursive practices by focusing on the notion of voice and considers implications for second language writing research and instruction. Examines recent critiques of the notion of voice that emphasize its strong association with the ideology of individualism. Presents evidence of voice…