Examines the language of writing groups at fifth, eighth, and eleventh grade levels to determine what students say when they critique one another's work. Analysis of idea units revealed that the highest proportion focused on the content of writing. The rubric for coding ideas is appended. (HOD)

Compares two formats for modeling how peers can critique each other's works, one that follows a traditional sequence of drafting, peer response, teacher conferences, and revision, and the other a revised version of this approach in which teacher conferences precede peer responses. Finds that training students in peer response groups during teacher…

Anthropologists have indicated that the need to act politically and to avoid the appearance of such action is marked in egalitarian societies. The perils of confrontation in such societies often foster indirect and highly allusive speech. This paper invesitgates the relationship between direct and indirect speech in an Indo-Fijian community which…

Presents observations of 15-member literature discussion group in a fifth-grade classroom. Shows that even in such groups, intended to create a more democratic forum where students' voices are heard and valued, factors like gender, cultural background, and status play a role in whose ideas get expressed and are actually listened to. (SR)

In Judith Richards' ethnically diverse third and fourth grade classroom, the morning meeting is a time for discussion. The functions these discussions serve range from sharing personal news to talking about problem-solving strategies. During these meetings, the teacher has a polyphonic role. She participates, moderates, and sometimes writes…

The study reported in this paper attempted to find out what evidences of active learning were displayed in the "ready," i.e., prompt and appropriate responses called for in classroom oral communication. Such an inquiry leads toward the claim that the learning process itself is a suitable arena for evaluation, and thus that the evaluation…

This study examined how question types influenced the quantity and quality of undergraduate students' online submissions. Discussion questions were structured based on one of six question types: direct link, course link, brainstorm, limited focal, open focal and application. Transcripts of eight online discussions involving 114 participants were…

Internet-mediated intercultural discussions have been adopted for intercultural and second-language learning. However, the notion of community development in this context has received less attention. This study employs exchange structure (ES) analysis (Stubbs, M. (1983). "Discourse analysis." Oxford: Basil Blackwell) to investigate the…

This study investigates cooperation in conversation among group members at five educational levels. In groups of six (three males and three females) second-, fifth-, ninth-, and twelfth-graders and college students met for 10 meetings of 20 minutes to an hour's duration. Members decided discussion topics and procedures. These meetings were tape…

The purpose of this study was to find out how pupils reached agreement and handled disagreement in science group discourse. Fifth-grade students were observed in small groups and participated in face-to-face interviews. Pupils' methods of reaching agreement--including using social psychological means--and ways of addressing disagreement--including…

This study compared flow of information and peer- and teacher-directed scaffolding evident in whole class discussions during Years 1 and 2 of a middle school mathematics teacher's efforts to change classroom practices. Results showed that in Year 2, the teacher removed herself as the analytic center to invite greater student participation.…

Develops a multidimensional framework for analyzing an extended physics classroom interaction to understand the resources participants use, alignments they form, and meanings and context they construct. Considers how participants negotiate their positions, focusing on one resistant student and why she remains unconvinced by others' arguments and…

Examines the scope of pedagogic discourse, which involves the operation of a set of principles by which persons are apprenticed into ways of working valued in a culture. A pedagogic discourse is realized in two sets of language choices: (1) those connected with the goals of the teaching-learning activity, and (2) those concerning the content to be…

Used a lexical statistics program to analyze conflict and nonconflict discussions of two different groups of college students. Found preliminary evidence for a pattern of greater redundancy and less vocabulary diversity for the discussion groups in conflict. (PD)

Explores a discussion in a bilingual education class of Haitian students where a non-teacher-directed discussion format and an emphasis on the students' own questions encourage the use of the students' everyday ways of talking and exploring ideas. The article's analysis of a discussion shows what and how the students are learning in this context.…