Details of a year-long sociolinguistic study of classroom discourse are presented in this final report, with focus on pupil perceptions of the units and features of classroom discourse. Pupils in second-, third-, and fourth-grade classrooms in a lower socioeconomic, multiethnic elementary school, viewed videotapes of language arts lessons given…

An inservice teacher education minicourse using programed materials is described. The course is intended to develop skills in studying verbal teaching-learning interactions for the purpose of increasing student participation, initiative, and motivation, and uses the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) to analyze teaching. Information…

This study describes the processes involved in developing an observational system for analyzing teacher classroom behavior. Three-hundred-sixty sixth grade students reported their perceptions of their teachers by responding to a questionnaire and to the same questions during interviews. The students' perceptual reports were analyzed to determine…

The use of improvisational drama to foster classroom communication about works of literature and about controversial topics of concern to students is described in this paper. After discussing the values of improvisational drama in the English classroom, the paper outlines a five-day sequence of exercises and activities involving relaxation,…

This paper attempts to identify key, recurring discourse activities and to develop hypotheses about ethnic or subgroup differences in discourse style that could lead to adverse educational outcomes. Data are drawn from ethnographic observation of 50 sharing time ("show and tell") sessions held in a first grade classroom. Different…

A report is presented of an evaluation study that was set up to monitor the effects of a bilingual program on students' progress in all subject areas, its effects on student attitudes towards the French language and culture, and the patterns of language usage in the bilingual classroom. The sample for the study consisted of three groups: a…

COMBINED VISUAL-AUDITORY METHODS FOR TEACHING WERE TESTED, USING AURALLY HANDICAPPED AND NORMAL CHILDREN AS SUBJECTS, TO DEVELOP COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF LEARNING ABILITY AND AUDITORY TRAINING BENEFITS OVER CONVENTIONAL UNISENSORY TEACHING TECHNIQUES. THE STUDY SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 2,500 CHILDREN. IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE, THE CHILDREN WERE…

TO DETERMINE IF A TEACHER'S INCIDENTAL IMITATION OF THE VERBAL BEHAVIOR PATTERNS OF HIS SUPERVISOR INFLUENCES HIS OWN CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND IF CERTAIN TEACHERS ARE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE THAN OTHERS TO THIS INFLUENCE, THE MINNESOTA TEACHER ATTITUDE INVENTORY AND THE PRELIMINARY SITUATION TEST (AN INSTRUMENT DESIGNED TO MEASURE THE PREFERENCE FOR…

THE VIEWS OF EACH OF 13 EDUCATIONAL THEORISTS ON HIS SPECIAL FIELD OF INTEREST IN EDUCATION, PRESENTED IN A SERIES OF SEMINARS, ARE STATED BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS RESOURCE BOOK, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO LA GRONE'S CATEGORIES FOR IMPROVING PRESERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION. UNDER "THE ANALYTICAL STUDY OF TEACHING" ARE THE VIEWS OF (1) B.O. SMITH…

This is part of a series of four modules intended to present guidelines for self-assessment of secondary science teachers. This module describes two main purposes for the assessment of interactions. The first is to determine the degree and characteristics of rapport between students and teachers. The second is to show the degree of correlation…

Based on the assumption that the same conditions that promote talk in the preschool years might continue to promote oracy if they could be replicated in schools, this paper investigates conditions most likely to promote growth in oral communication, summarizes the findings of two relevant Australian research studies, and draws implications for…

This study aimed at an investigation of four television teaching techniques via a closed circuit system. Eighty vocational agriculture students comprised four groups: group A viewed the program without any opportunity to participate in two way communications or ask questions before or after the telecast; group B viewed the program as group A but…

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of interaction analysis feedback on the verbal behavior of student teachers. Forty randomly selected senior elementary education students at the University of South Florida were trained in interaction analysis, and each was observed for eight weekly 15-minute periods during student teaching. Data,…

Classroom interaction may be described in terms of communication events, i.e., sequences of teacher-pupil communicative behaviors separated from preceding and succeeding sequences of behaviors by natural boundaries. Communication events may be institutional (related to managing the classroom and meeting the expectations of the institution), task…

A two-part communication model for teaching elementary mathematics is proposed. Part I delineates symbols commonly used in teaching arithmetic. Parts of mathematical language (mathematical objects, relations, operations, expressions, and sentences) are compared to analogous parts of the English language. Part 2 is a conceptualization of strategies…