The interest in achieving improved acoustical conditions in classrooms has increased in the last years. Some experiments on acoustics phenomena using smartphone applications appear in the recent bibliography. In this paper, we present a proposal for active learning about room acoustics for high school and undergraduate students. Students work on…

This study investigated degrees of mutual intelligibility among 3 structurally related languages in South Africa: Sepedi, Sesotho, and Setswana. To compare reading proficiency of mother-tongue speakers who enrolled for freshman courses at the University of Limpopo, 4 reading experimental conditions, in the 3 languages and 1 in a harmonized text,…

This book discusses the centrality of rhetoric in the academy, asserting the intimate connection between language and knowledge making and stressing the need for a change in the roles of teachers and students in today's classroom. The goal is mutuality, or sharing authority between teachers and students, and allowing everyone an equal voice. For…

Two broad issues in the international teaching of English as a second language are discussed: the language standard to be taught (i.e., British, North American, Canadian, Australian, or some other native form), and mutual intelligibility as a principle by which to teach English. It is proposed that while language models are necessary for the…

Preliminary results of a comparison of the language modifications made by teachers when telling stories to native English speakers and non-native speakers of English at various proficiency levels suggest that teachers need to do more than make the routine modifications in linguistic input to lower-level learners. Teachers need to: (1) act on the…

Noting that collaboration can enhance children's ability to solve problems of increasing difficulty, this paper discusses the theory of collaborative talk in the classroom and how it can be applied. The first section of the paper introduces the notion of collaborative talk by describing a classroom setting and offering an excerpt of two children…

This paper discusses an ongoing study being conducted at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah concerning ways of improving communication teaching to graduate students, especially those in the business administration program. The paper also discusses some current research on language and management and some preliminary results of fourth year…

Investigates the relationship between the social organization and educational practices of schools and how they relate to students' ability to recognize differences between curriculum-specific talk. The study recorded students' observations regarding Mathematics and Art to determine their ability to speak in subject-specific ways teachers deem…

The paper discusses some issues that language variation creates for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction, identifies research strands relevant to program development, and describes two dialect program exemplars. It also suggests considerations for educational policy formation with respect to dialects. The introductory section gives…