Analysis of the communication of eight preschool children with deafness found that frequent causes of communication breakdowns in the listening role were attention, comprehension, and absence of mutual desire; causes in the speaking role were intelligibility, informativeness, and inadequate volume. Few repairs were self-initiated; frequent repair…

Finds that the amount of teacher talk in individual writing conferences becomes a problem only when the student is not allowed to be in control (in terms of ownership of the agenda). Suggests that teachers use their expertise and what students have to say to create appropriate pedagogies. (RS)

Examines mothers' discourse in joint picture book reading in terms of the level of abstract thought it requires the child to make and compares this with language used in an interactive, product-oriented task, modelling a clown using play-doh. (39 references) (GLR)

Reports on part of a project that was investigating the reading requirements of second-language students beginning the study of a new subject. It is suggested that such students may have problems achieving full comprehension because of a lack of an appropriate schema for approaching the textbook. (19 references) (JL)

Discussion of discourse created by computers defines discourse as a pattern of cognitive functioning and identifies two such modes of thought: narrative and expository. Discussion covers the computer as discourse; schemas as a way to understand how knowledge is organized; simulations, hypermedia, and databases as discourse; and interactive…

Investigates children's peer group discussions of a storybook, an information book, and an informational storybook. Finds older students collaborating more, drawing more on peer information, participating in longer discussions, and making more confirming and challenging responses than younger children. Finds that children stayed on topic longer…

Proposes a method for examining how disciplinary differences in knowledge making are created or reflected at the sentence level. Focuses on grammatical subjects of all sentences as key indicators of disciplinary knowledge making in sample journal articles in the subfields of psychology, history, and literature. (PRA)

Selected discourse behaviors of 10 elementary school children with specific language impairment (SLI) presenting expressive or combined expressive-receptive deficits were compared to each other and to two groups of controls. The two SLI subgroups varied from each other on specific measures of turn taking and cohesion. Research implications are…

Proposes six related cognitive statuses relevant for explicating the use of referring expressions in natural language discourse. A study of the distribution of referring expressions in naturally occurring discourse in English, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish is offered as support for the proposal. (Contains 91 references.) (Author)

Coded discourse of three preschool girls during an entire play session. Analyzed discourse as an instance of Goffman's concept of social frames specifying 13 reality modes, from deeply engrossed play action to nonplay interaction. Proposes a theoretical view regarding the society-instituting function of pretend play from a constructivist…

Argues the major problem with report writing is poorly developed or lack of audience awareness, not grammar and mechanics. Discusses reliability of such reports and how lack of audience awareness may be remedied. Suggests that teachers have students follow a 10-step outlining process. (PA)

Thirty-two subjects (5 Broca's, 7 conduction, and 10 anomic aphasics and 10 normal controls) performed story retell and procedural discourse tasks containing familiar and unfamiliar topics, with familiar and unfamiliar listeners. Results indicated that topic familiarity significantly influenced verbal output in both normal and aphasic subjects.…

Presents an interpretive study of 1 family's discourse concerning aggression between 2 brothers (9-years, 9-months and 11-years, 11-months old). Analyzes 10 parental strategies, representing all the turns within a long conversation in which parents took the lead in promoting their younger son's narrative and logical understanding of his offensive…

This review of the literature on narrative discourse in children with language disorders describes theoretical perspectives on narrative use; surveys researchers' rationales for the investigation of narrative ability, including the pragmatic nature of narrative use and narrative ability as an index of language development; discusses methodological…

Topics addressed in this review include ethnology and traditional dialect study, philology, linguistic conversion analysis, and interaction within the social sciences. Finland's size affects these research activities and research on spoken interaction is shifting to group projects with a common focus. (Contains 68 references.) (JP)