Through oral languaging children learn to share ideas, to shape ideas, to structure thought, and to develop thinking skills. In order to plan appropriate and effective oral communication environments, teachers need to be aware of the factors that shape and influence communication environments or situations. There are three scales or continua of…

A description is given of three studies on the effects of teacher clarity upon student achievement. Three low inference variables of teacher clarity--vagueness terms, mazes, and additional unexplained content--were selected for study. Vagueness terms are words or phrases indicating approximation, unclarity, or lack of assurance. A maze is defined…

The relation of communicative skills to language syllabus planning is discussed. The most important part of the foreign language syllabus is course content. Foreign language teaching is primarily a matter of starting with the world of everyday knowledge which the learner already possesses. The foreign language syllabus should be designed to take…

Because of the need to describe and analyze nonverbal as well as verbal classroom interaction, an attempt has been made to develop an observational system of complete behavioral analysis using the Flanders system as a base. Each of the 10 Flanders verbal categories (based on direct and indirect teacher influence) is combined with relevant…

The interpretive review in this paper is directed toward a reformulation of teacher effectiveness questions. The analysis uses Kuhn's concept of paradigm to designate a framework which defines problems, methods, and solutions for a research community. The dominant process-pruduct paradigm in teacher effectiveness research is contrasted with two…

The purpose of this booklet is to provide a summary of perception research and to suggest practical applications which will improve students' and teachers' communication ability. The "theory" section of this work is devoted to the definition of perception as a selective process, dependent on such factors as acuity of sensory equipment,…

This investigation studied that relationship between structured teacher-student verbal interaction and critical thinking ability of students in an introductory course in general college biology. This interaction took the form of lecture, of discussion using broad questions, and of discussion using narrow questions as the three primary teaching…

A successful classroom bulletin board display should not only be decorative, but also must have clear-cut purposes and functions: informational (i.e., post current school news), instructional (i.e., expand on classroom units), and motivational (i.e., tap subliminal awareness). Some suggested techniques include (1) using space other than the…

This paper sets forth a comparative description of the constructs required to isolate and analyze language behavior central to the study of paraphrase--which is here considered central to an understanding of the process of idea sharing in the classroom. Findings are presented which suggest significant black/white differences in terms of these…

To examine three teachers' communication to individual students during their attempts to individualize instruction, a class of sixth grade students was videotaped as it spent a week in science, in social studies, and in mathematics. Tapes were analyzed using a modified form of Bellack's observation system. With the pedagogical move as the primary…

Articles is this issue represent the substantive content of a series of 25 workshops sponsored by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). The four major articles discuss innovative models based on four approaches for improving teacher performance: (1) "Interaction Analysis" by Edmund J. Amidon, San Francisco State…

A model of informational interaction between teachers and learners has been developed and the first facet for its taxonomy derived. The model focuses on the internal cognitive events of teaching and learning in human beings generally, rather than on the specific roles of instructor and student. Teacher-learner communication is described in terms…

This study assesses the reliability of the System for the Analysis of Classroom Communication (SACC) devised to permit the gathering of data descriptive of classroom communication between teacher and pupils for evaluative purposes. The reliability used was called inter-observer agreement. The measure of inter-observer agreement used was the Scott…

This student guide is part of a learning module on the language concept of feedback related to effective teaching, which was developed as part of the Utah State University Protocol Materials Project. The complete module consists of the student guide, a protocol film, and testing materials. The student guide contains: (a) an introduction to…

Reported is a study to investigate the effectiveness of an instructional technique designed to enable preservice students enrolled in science methods courses to acquire skill in the use of nonverbal cues and the use of silence. Students were randomly assigned to experimental (9 students) and control (10 students) groups. The vehicle for skill…