Considers the ways in which the media constructs and represents information, particularly in relation to subjects defined by class, race, or gender. Compares conceptions of the "public" by John Dewey and Walter Lippmann with current postmodernist thinking. Recommends that citizenship education incorporate a critically-oriented media…

Provides a brief sketch of key historical and political conditions that led to the 1973 protests at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, by Native Americans. Demonstrates how the discursive strategies of the protestors both reflect the influence of context and reveal the significance of rhetoric's role in revitalizing culture. Considers implications for…

Applies communication accommodation theory (CAT) to a study of the utility of selected discourse indices of adaptability that compared conversations involving native speaker-native speaker and native speaker-nonnative speaker dyads. Subjects were 132 student volunteers from a large midwestern university. Results are analyzed in terms of their…

Examines the dialog of 82 secondary school students in Glasgow (Scotland) (13 male, 12 female, and 16 mixed-sex pairs) working in pairs on a computer-presented task to determine gender differences in expression of opinion. Implications of the differences between genders in interaction style and manner of progress through the task are discussed.…

Explores the application of a process-based methodology in reading of recent fictional text, Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day," with international undergraduates. Illustrated by practical tasks on narrative voice designed to build awareness of metadiscursive markers and their functions, this article makes a case for a methodology that is…

This study is concerned with evaluating critical learning of 10-11 year-old students studying global citizenship through an online discussion environment. The evaluation is based on analysing the use of language as both a social reasoning tool and cognitive learning tool. Evaluation methods use: (1) content analysis of the online discussion…

This paper reports a qualitative study on students' informal reasoning on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Twenty-two students from four science classes in Norway were interviewed about the local construction of new power lines and the possible increased risk of childhood leukaemia. The focus in the study is on what arguments the students…

Western European forms of discourse have been foisted upon the world as the universal value-neutral reference point. External standards have been used to assess aboriginal discourse, particularly in public contexts such as schools and courtrooms. These standards assume that there is one single correct way to proceed (to talk, write, argue, teach),…

Prompted by the growing interest in the role of reader-related and text-related variables in reading comprehension, a study compared 30 sixth grade students in regular classrooms to 30 language impaired students. The purpose was to assess the relationship of (1) text structure manipulations for simple and complex sentence structure, (2) discourse…

This study investigated modes of communication adopted by six student jazz musicians during rehearsal and performance. Six one-hour rehearsal sessions and a performance were observed and videotaped for analysis. Results revealed six modes of communication that formed two main categories, verbal and non-verbal, each containing three distinct modes…

Native Americans have oral traditions that are distinct from the European literacy consciousness, having different modes of discourse, different kinds of metaphorical thinking, and different conceptions of teaching as storytelling. Storytelling is important in children's education, but to be effective and respectful of Native culture, school…

Argues that spaces must be opened for ethical action to take place. Contends that humans must attempt to overcome carelessness that stands in the way of morality. Places ethical commitments within the context of community. Suggests ethical demands should be responded to by addressing persons, not aggregates. Urges imagining possibilities and…

Study explored differences in conversational power by comparing discourse in whole language and traditional basal second-grade classrooms. Researchers compared the contextual setting and discourse of rug-time during reading instruction in the classrooms. Results suggested two contrasts between teachers' rug-time discourse: imposed versus generated…

Describes an English teacher's approach to teaching literature in translation at a community college, which included developing a translation Web site. Addresses issues of language choices in translation, the validity of translated works as literature, and differences among translations of the same work. (NB)

This study looks at language teachers' and language researchers' expectations and evaluations of two kinds of journal articles, either researcher-oriented or teacher-oriented. The results show that teachers and academics use different ways of validating information in journal articles and use the information contained in them in distinctly…