In culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms reading comprehension is essential for students to access all areas of the curriculum. For English as an Additional Language (EAL) students, research has identified the need to combine literacy strategies with second language principles to scaffold students' comprehension of text. To illustrate…

The purpose of this study was to examine how teacher talk influenced the way issues of race, culture, and disability were addressed in literature discussion groups. Discussions of one teacher with two groups of students, of varying reading levels, were studied. The research questions were: 1) How does the teacher's perspective on the students…

Reflective learning, a practice carrying relatively high educational value, has been with us for some time. Its popularity has grown to the extent that it is often adopted unquestioningly by educational practitioners. However, there are some important questions to be asked in relation to reflective practice. In reality, its impact on improved and…

The current paper examines the discursive practices of one novice English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher "dealing with" learners' unexpected contributions in whole group classroom interactions during teacher- and learner-initiated sequences-of-talk. The study draws from two fields of research: classroom discourse studies…

Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed between 1974 and 2002, this qualitative study explored the gender assumptions and expectations of 19 preservice and practicing secondary language arts teachers in a graduate level adolescent literature course. The theoretical framework was structured around…

The present study investigated the impact of critical discourse analysis (CDA) on TEFL students' critical thinking (CT) ability in "Reading Journalistic Texts" classes. In so doing, the study utilized an experimental design with 24 participants in the control group and 29 participants in the experimental group. The results of a pretest indicated…

Theories of human development and learning provide an essential framework in which to understand the mechanisms involved in the process of formal instruction as a specific form of teaching and learning in the school setting. The sociocultural theory of development, founded on the works of Lev Vygotsky, espouses the view that social interaction…

This paper takes as its starting point that coaches' efforts at planning their athletes' training are a complex practice involving so many variables that the logic of how they all "fit together" to produce a peak performance is never obvious or clear. However, many coaches operate as if their athletes' training programmes can be…

This article explores how teaching about identity in Australia has been framed by the recent historical and political context. It analyses the influential characterisation of Australian identity during John Howard's period in office between 1996 and 2007. The findings of Australian education researchers relating to young people's sense of what it…

Garth Boomer's ideas in "Negotiating the Curriculum" (1992a) resonate with discussions of shifting teacher and student roles and relationships in the "student voice" movement. Boomer (1988) critiqued his earlier conception of power in "Negotiating the Curriculum," asserting that he would "now like to write a book…

The aim of this study was to investigate the kinds of argumentation schemes generated by pre-service elementary science teachers (PSTs) as they perform inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks, and to explore how argumentation schemes vary by task as well as by experimentation and discussion sessions. The model of argumentative and scientific inquiry was…

Fostering and assessing language learners' cultural understanding is a daunting task, particularly at the early stages of language learning with target language instruction. The purpose of this study was to explore the development of beginning French language learners' intercultural understanding in a computer-mediated environment where students…

This study investigates the dynamics in the Spanish classroom between heritage language learner (HLL) dyads, second language learner (L2L) dyads, and mixed HLL-L2L dyads. Specifically, it examines oral, written and embodied discourse that informs our understanding of how learners attend to language. Analysis for this dissertation examined…

We tried to determine the reasoning behind the stances taken by a group of 19-21-year-old students on the controversial issue of the feasibility and acceptability of human gene therapy. The students were in training at a biotechnology institute. We organised classroom debates, punctuated by phases of epistemological "disturbances". We…

This paper considers the multiple discourses that influence medical education with a focus on the discourses of competence and caring. Discourses of competence are largely constituted through, and related to, biomedical and clinical issues whereas discourses of caring generally focus on social concerns. These discourses are not necessarily equal…