Teachers are responsible for what happens in their classrooms, and promoting civil discourse should be among their top priorities. Not only should they model civil speech and behavior, but they also should establish clear boundaries for students, create a climate that nourishes courteous exchange, and help students build vocabularies that enable…

We theorize about ambiguity in mathematical communication and define a certain subset of ambiguous language usage as imprecise. For us, imprecision in classroom mathematics discourse hinders in-the-moment communication because the instance of imprecision is likely to create inconsistent interpretations of the same statement among individuals. We…

Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs), first implemented by Ramon Flecha, have proved to be a "successful educational action" (SEA) for inclusion, social cohesion and raising children's attainment in several European and Latin American countries. This article reports their implementation in England and their consistent and dramatic…

"One of the most powerful educational tools available to students and teachers lies hidden in plain sight, in every classroom--conversation," writes Susan Engel. The conversational exchanges that happen naturally between parents and young children are full of questions that can lead to learning. Within the context of these casual…

With games captivating the minds of many children in the United States, educators may be interested in trying to introduce games into their classrooms. This article offers educators insights into how to understand and incorporate games that are inherently social, promoting effective discourse in their classrooms. Although educational games and…

High school teacher James C. Mayer explains how a student-run symposium can promote "risk-taking and participation" and help students practice effective persuasion skills before demonstrating them in writing. The symposium places students in roles that encourage responsibility and ownership for discussion and learning, shifting the classroom…

Intellectuals lament the disappearance of community, a nostalgia for the small town that has supposedly given way to the anonymous crowds of the city. Likewise, scholars have talked about "discourse communities" in romantic terms, referring to a place where all share the same values. However, a more urban view of social life, in which…

Writing, essentially a social act, is concerned with cognition and is allied to context. Most writing takes the form of dialogue and it is out of dialogic processes that language acquisition takes place. Writers and readers convene in the cognitive and social space that is at the heart of a discourse community. The social aspects of writing are…

Thirteen years after the first edition of this book, significant changes in social and intellectual life have made the subject of classroom discourse more important than ever, and this new edition integrates current perspectives and research. New features in the book include: a new rationale for the importance of student-teacher talk (the…

Beginning college writers often approach the writing classroom with attitudes of fear and alienation. Fostering partnerships between instructor and students allows these writers to extend their private selves, affirm their identities, and connect to larger audiences. Letter writing can help establish an authentic connection between instructor and…

Adopting inquiry-based science and mathematics pedagogies changes traditional classroom communication patterns. Linguistic research in science and mathematics classrooms has identified communication techniques that help teachers manage classroom discussions to increase student interaction and a sense of student responsibility for learning. These…

The Hofstra University New Teachers' Network offers a multifaceted approach to university-based support for new teachers that also enhances the experience of students in its preservice teacher education program. This model is rooted in relationships that develop during preservice teacher education programs and has been successful at recruiting and…