Examines the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Finds evidence of a differential diagnosis frame to organize the group's diagnostic inquiry procedures; coconstruction of explanatory case models linking causes to clinical symptoms through interactive discussion; processes of collaborative reasoning in evaluating alternative…

Examines the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Offers a sociocultural analysis of the data segment, focusing on the complex agendas pursued by the medical students. Explores the multiple agendas confronting a "transition community," the intra-space and inter-personal issues, and the role of the coach in transition…

Comments on a set of five analyses of the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Discusses how the five articles take a first step toward resolving a critical issue of learning theory: understanding the boundary between common sense and technical forms of reasoning, action, and discourse; and by what means students grow from…

Contributes to rhetorical theory and to an understanding of social movements and countermovements by examining the journal of a Massachusetts anti-suffrage organization. Finds that it was principally reactive, that its basic themes illustrated the ideology of the anti-suffrage movement, and that this ideology was reflected in the organizational…

Claims that participants in computer-mediated "chat" (CMC) produce a kind of hybrid text. Stresses the importance of investigating the individual texts and writing practices of each participant in CMC studies to better understand what occurs when language users bring individual cognitive, social, and contextual factors with them to a…

Examines the nature and structure of idioms and idiomatic language and offers suggestions for teaching them. Topics addressed include the relationship between idioms and erroneous language, idioms' appropriateness in context, proverbs, and metaphors. Some exercises are included. (Author/MSE)

Argues for an alternative to the conventional linear model of language acquisition in the learning of second-language grammar, proposing a more organic approach. The two approaches are contrasted, drawing on research in second-language learning and discourse analysis that supports the organic view. Some pedagogical implications of this approach…

Discusses second language acquisition and the use of multimedia that allows learners to be actively engaged in the language learning process, based on experiences at an Australian university teaching Chinese to English and Japanese students. Considers the phonological level, the semantic level, the syntactic level, and the discourse level. (LRW)

Examines longitudinally how mothers structure shared book reading interactions with their children across the preschool period. Addresses consistency of individual maternal styles over time and comparability of storybook reading styles across familiar and unfamiliar stories. Finds three maternal stylistic groups: Describers, Comprehenders, and…

Focuses on problems inherent in teaching culture in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. These include the definition of "Canadian culture," limitations of teacher education programs, defining settlement education as ESL, a decline in regard for ESL professionals, the role of immigrant educators, cultural bias, and fiscal…

Takes issue with J. Habermas's partiality for the dialectical (or rational-critical) over the rhetorical sphere. Shows that in two cases (in addition to the 18th-century "philosophes") such a sphere was conducive to circularity, insularity, and exclusion. Focuses on the discourse of the proponents of communicative ethics and the…

Reviews "Writing the Rural," five "cultural geographies" by Paul Cloke, Marcus Doel, David Matless, Martin Phillips, and Nigel Thrift that focus on proliferating meanings of "rural" and on understanding the "rural" as something fashioned by both rural residents and various outside actors. Highlights the…

Presents a pedagogy for teaching writing students a theory of interlocutor relationships in synchronous computer conferencing (SCC), also known as chat. Constructs four major categories of interlocutor relationships: agonistic, hierarchical, dialectical, and empathic relationships. Argues application of this rhetorical theory provides students and…

Describes how parent involvement and parents themselves were socially constructed within Head Start programs located in different communities. Suggests how these social practices made particular forms of involvement possible and even necessary. Argues that discourses constitute rather than merely represent. Suggests how alternative ways of…

Proposes questions teachers can use to structure language activities that encourage students to analyze their own use of language. The questions arose from a workshop that focuses on assisting teachers and learners to explore language function together. Teachers can use these questions to exploit language in English as a Second or Other Language…