Though high-stakes testing currently dominates educational policy, few studies examine the consequences of such testing for the teaching and learning of literature in secondary English classrooms. This study takes a multi-layered approach to specify how a high-stakes exam positioned students as readers of literary texts. Drawing on both critical…

A system for "anchored discussion" is compared with a system for traditional forum discussion (Blackboard), and their collaborative and communicative affordances for the collaborative processing of academic texts are investigated. Results show that discussion in the system for anchored discussion is more directed at processing the meaning of texts…

Viewing education as a complex site for endorsing and contesting knowledges and practices we explore its critical roles in feminist language planning. Many types of language planning have relied heavily on education for the implementation and spread of the particular reform agenda largely reliant on discourses of compulsory obligation (e.g.…

In this paper, we explore how students used two resources, the in-class lecture and the online newsgroup, to write computer programs. By focusing on the questions students asked in each setting, we compare these two learning environments. Questions students asked during lecture typically related to the material the instructor was presenting. In…

Reform in the fields of adolescent and content area literacy have focused on broadening a definition of literacy beyond the ability to read and write. In a broader definition the language processes of reading, writing, speaking and listening become literacy tools to engage students in the learning of concepts and afford the learner ways to…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2011 proceedings, see ED518589.]

For many teachers of reading comprehension, the establishment of communicative competence as the important criterion of analysis has brought about new and interesting insights into their work. But as more and more analyses of written texts refer to communicative analysis, it may be time to pause and think about what different people mean by…

This paper suggests that one way of understanding the role of feedback in a classroom situation is to describe the types of feedback which are communicated in a range of settings and to study the effect the feedback seems to have. Systematic descriptions are provided of the feedback communicated by teachers in ESOL classes, by children playing, by…

Linguistic cohesion involves the semantic and syntactic relationships that link sentences together. Research on linguistic cohesion is related to readability and to developmental and ability-level issues in reading/writing. Instructional strategies for low-ability readers/writers include predicting comprehension problems through cohesion analysis…

A form is presented for language teacher self-evaluation concerning attitudes and knowledge about learning theories, general linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, teaching methodology, the communicative approach, class activities, class management, instructional support, and evaluation. (MSE)

This book seeks to locate the essence of adult experiential learning, a central phenomenon in adult education. Chapter 1, The Theme of Adult Experiential Learning in Research, addresses theory building in adult education and developing a deeper understanding of adult experiential learning. Chapter 2, Theoretical Underpinnings and Methodology,…

Describes a one-semester conversational course taught at Harvard University designed to teach basic oral communication skills in French with the main emphasis on teaching students to pause while speaking. (AM)

Analyzes discourse practices in British urban primary schools providing marginal bilingual support to immigrant minority-group students as a means to facilitate their social transition to school and eventual access to an English-medium education. The article describes teaching strategies in two classrooms implementing the bilingual approach.…

Presents a range of insights that can be gained for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) listening comprehension pedagogy from the analysis of an authentic lecture. Notes that the salient features identified in the lecture are absent from academic listening textbooks surveyed and argues that EAP listening instructors need to supplement their texts…

Research is presented that investigates the amount of learner noticing produced by two types of grammar consciousness-raising treatments: teacher-fronted grammar lessons and interactive, grammar problem-solving tasks. Results indicate that task performance is as effective as formal instruction in promoting noticing. (Contains 33 references.)…