This study provides a theory-driven account of community building in a bilingual telecollaborative chat setting. A symmetrical arrangement of 70 L1 English learners of Spanish and L1 Spanish learners of English engaged in weekly Internet chat sessions in small groups. The learning metaphors of community and participation serve as the theoretical…

In this article we examine the development, over 1 year, of mathematical discourse communities in 2 eighth-grade mathematics classes in a suburban public middle school. The curriculum topics included probability, functions, graphing, data analysis, and pre-algebra. The 50 students were heterogeneously placed; most were from upper-middle-class…

Many scholars have examined the jeremiad in American rhetoric and political discourse. The Hanford Education Action League (HEAL), which influenced policy changes in the operations of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, is a social movement organization whose founding members used the jeremiad to create a symbolic community which…

A study examined the opinions of a substantial segment of the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) community about gender exclusive language. Questionnaires were distributed at two large but diverse CEDA debate tournaments. A total of 180 usable surveys were returned to the 390 distributed. Survey respondents (112 men, 66 women) included…

Geographical thinking focuses on the extrinsic meanings of work in English, the meanings extracted from that work, intended or not, through mediating institutional forces, relationships, and modes of spatial organization. It considers how the effects of the work of English educators are mediated by the contiguity of their courses with other…

Numerous critics have repeatedly called for the use of curricular materials drawn from the learner's everyday world, and for many of today's students, one valuable source is the lyrics of contemporary rap music. In first-year writing courses at Michigan State University, the words to one rap song, "You Must Learn" by the group Boogie…

This paper discusses the rhetoric of American educators to show that rhetorical analyses can be used to highlight assumed concepts and values within educators' discourses, policies, and practices, and to suggest that greater awareness of their rhetoric can help educators make their communications congruent with their purposes. The paper describes…

Since a discourse community may have its membership assigned both on the basis of speech or of writing, it follows that the concept of discourse community needs to be both medium-neutral and unconstrained by space and time. The defining characteristics of a discourse community might be (1) communality of interest, (2) mechanisms for…

Traces scholarly constructions of basic writers' identities. Asks what those students who are labeled basic writers are accomplishing in their speech and writing. Offers a speculative model for analyzing basic writing student discourse. Uses that model to examine the language used in a basic writing classroom. Reviews the implications of such work…

Studies the electronic contributions of academic and practitioner public relations professionals on the listserv called PRForum. Examines 200 messages for dialectic interacts (two or more messages on one topic); analyzes further in terms of the applied model of speech act theory. Assesses the impact of language creation via technology, especially…

Many teacher educators today will find little difficulty in completing this cloze--but Bob Dylan's understanding of the outsider may not be one that we share in terms of our own experience as teacher educators. Our concern in this paper is to suggest that such an understanding may also be one that we do not often concern ourselves with on behalf…

Large universities are increasingly offering marketing courses in classes of 300 or more students. Without access to the usual verbal and nonverbal cues, instructors in these megaclasses are disadvantaged in terms of their ability to respond to learners' needs. As a result, marketing instructors have supplemented course infrastructure with…

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…

A study examined a segment of classroom discourse in light of: (1) the complexity of an I-R-E (Initiation-Reply-Evaluation) sequence; (2) the teacher's role as facilitator; and (3) the similarities and differences between mundane conversation and classroom discourse. In addition, the intricacies of interaction between teachers and students in the…

Raymond William's historical analysis of the "community" and the "individual" is useful for looking critically at the notion of "discourse communities." Recent "social" theories of writing have invoked the idea of community in ways that seem at once sweeping and vague, for they fail to state the operating…