An ethnographic approach is taken to describe the development of student critical thinking in the Pittsburgh Discussion Project, focusing primarily on discussion experiences in three classes (one college-bound 9th-grade class and two mainstream 11th-grade classes) over the school year. Weekly discussions were audiotaped, and interviews were…

A study was conducted to analyze the role that nonverbal communication plays in classroom climate. A 40-item classroom communication climate questionnaire was developed, and administered to 76 students and 8 teachers to determine its reliability and validity. After several changes and deletions, the final version of the questionnaire was…

Dynamics of discussion in the classroom are analyzed based on data from 64 classrooms in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Among the discourse problems considered are the separation of answers from questions, the relationship between the presupposition of an utterance and the speaker/hearer assumptions, and the relationship between utterance form and…

To determine whether increased teacher use of student ideas would produce increased verbal initiation, an experiment was conducted with 16 second grade teachers and their classes. First, a series of observations were made under normal class conditions to determine the usual percentages of teacher use of student ideas and student initiation. Then,…

These materials will help the educator develop an awareness of nonverbal behavior, which is complimentary to and independent of the verbal realm, to give a complete picture of the classroom. The purpose of the manual is to enable the teacher to identify nonverbal components of behavior, including dimensions other than behavioral of the teacher's…

Reviewed are studies which have described classroom behavior by direct observation using various category systems. Described in detail is the Science Curriculum Assessment System for classroom interaction analysis. This is designed to monitor classroom conditions associated with elementary school science instruction. The system combines the…

This volume of selected readings developed for students and practitioners at various levels of sophistication is intended to be representative of work done to date on interaction analysis. The contents include journal articles, papers read at professional meetings, abstracts of doctoral dissertations, and selections from larger monographs, plus 12…

The potentiality of macroanalysis of interactive dialogue was studied for ten suburban school teachers and their very high and very low ability student groups. Macroanalysis is the computerized analysis of interaction data into units of three or more tallies with the number of unit occurrences determinable. The sample groups had a mean IQ…

This study was intended to obtain baseline data in the areas of verbal and cognitive behavior patterns of selected secondary social studies teachers. Hypotheses for study were that there will be no significant difference between: 1) observed verbal teaching behaviors of the highest and lowest ranked teachers; 2) the observed cognitive behavior of…

An analysis of the kinds and uses of laughter in five adult introductory foreign language classes is presented. The importance of this form of nonverbal communication in the teaching situation is examined in the context of classroom ritual's effects on learners' nonverbal behavior. (MSE)

Reports a study designed to ascertain the relationship between teacher perceived attractiveness and classroom interactions and suggests that "main effects" such as facial attractiveness of youngsters acts to determine individual potential for interactions with others. (MH)

Considers the use of language by children vs. that by teachers in the classroom and how language is crucial for effective learning processes. (RK)

Predictions from Anderson's theories of structured communication were tested in grade eitht biology classes. Students given verbal instruction with a high degree of structure performed better on acquisition tests than students receiving less structured lessons. (AL)

Studies the effects of student-structured (SSLS) and teacher-structured (TSLS) teaching strategies. SSLS students consistently exhibited lower frequencies of teacher dependency behaviors than TSLS students. Need affiliation results varied with the grade level of students. (MA)

In spite of the theoretical claims and research supporting the relationship between conversational interaction and language learning, the effect of interaction on the acquisition of pragmatic competence has received scant attention. This paper reports on the results of a study carried out to further understand the effect of teacher-students versus…