A qualitative research focused on a case study aiming to monitor emergent knowledge in a discourse group by tracking the development of the concept "goal." The analysis, based on "Semiotic Evolution" methodology facilitates the description of interactions between personal perceptions in the group discourse, illustrating the…

Critical approaches to Whiteness, heteronormativity, masculinity, and educational privileges have contributed in recent years to a greater focus on structural privileges. Various studies have established that structural privileges often remain invisible for the privileged individuals themselves (Bourdieu and Passeron 1997; Frankenberg 1993;…

Increasingly, studies are investigating the factors that influence student discourse in science courses, and specifically the mechanisms and discourse processes within small groups, to better understand the learning that takes place as students work together. This paper contributes to a growing body of research by analyzing how students engage in…

This article presents an adaptation of established qualitative research methods for online focus groups by using the "Disqus" website-based commenting platform as a medium for discussion among doctoral and early-career academic learners. Facilities allowing Internet users to comment on the content of web pages are increasingly popular on…

The research we report on was conducted from our computer desktops. We have not met the people we have studied; they are part of what Eichhorn described as a "textual community", gathered around the threads of online conversations associated with a website servicing the needs of English-language speakers in Germany. The thread in…

This study investigated how the critical language awareness (CLA) framework can be implemented with an emphasis on writing and how English-language learners respond to CLA. The findings suggest that the students directed their attention away from the sole emphasis on reading for learning vocabulary and grammar to other dimensions of texts and…

This exploratory netnographic study describes how a sample of Ontario kindergarten teachers perceive the new Ontario Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) curriculum. Discussions from teacher message boards, the comment sections of online news articles, and interviews with kindergarten teachers were analyzed and coded using a qualitative approach. Analysis…

This research focuses on read-aloud discussions in the classroom of an exemplary second-grade teacher, Mae Graham, during an academic year. We found the classroom environment Mae created, along with her instructional moves, fostered engagement and student-initiated talk. Our analysis affirms the importance of teachers' language in building…

This exploratory study uses qualitative methods to analyze the impact of conversations in the Border Pedagogy "Cafes" on more than 500 binational educators from the Tijuana/San Diego area on the U.S.-Mexico border. Four important themes emerged from the analysis that describe the impact of the cafes and offer a strong foundation on which…

This paper explores a middle school teacher's and his students' perceptions of the differences between online synchronous literature discussions and face-to-face literature discussions. Each member of this literature group participated in two face-to-face and two online literature discussions. Participants were interviewed twice to discuss their…

Isolation and a lack of support contribute to high attrition rates among novice teachers. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is one mechanism for providing anytime, anywhere support to teachers. Previous research in this area has focused on structuring such discussions to encourage cognitive engagement, yet little attention has been paid to how…

Discusses a cautionary, honest approach to qualitative business communication research, which adds validity and strength, used in a study of a hospital discourse community. (RS)

A qualitative study determined the impact electronic mail (e-mail) discussion lists can have on a college classroom. The theoretical concepts explored are "community" and "roles." Community is defined by the boundaries it possesses, the dialogue exchanged, and the people interacting in the community. Roles may be defined by the interactions among…

This critical ethnographic study examines the discourse systems experienced by three migrant fifth-grade boys during an apple harvest season in south-central Pennsylvania. Numerous examples reveal the discourse collisions facing these boys, whose home language and culture did not reflect the mainstream, and how dominant mainstream discourses…