This dissertation examines the use of dialogic discussion to improve young adolescents' ability to critically evaluate web sites. An intervention unit comprised three iterations of an instructional cycle in which students independently annotated web sites about controversial issues and discussed the reliability of those sites in dialogic…

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' verbal discourse moves in scaffolding adolescent students' argumentative thinking in small group interpretive discussions about literature. Demands related to argumentation may present particular challenges for adolescent students (Biancarosa & Snow,…

This study used qualitative methodology including observations and interviews to attempt to discover how secondary students form impressions of their teachers and how those impressions are perpetuated among students, leading to teacher reputation. The findings from the study indicate that students form impressions of their teachers by assessing…