This article provides an initial approach for capturing moments of talk about, around, and for writing to explain why writing groups and writing conferences are so often considered "transformative" for the people involved. After describing the widespread and yet disparate transformations so often attributed to collaborative writing talk, I…

Results from a qualitative component of a mixed-methods research design are reported regarding the use of humor in pastoral ministry. Thirteen Southern Baptist (SB) pastors were interviewed, from a total of 37 exemplars identified in the quantitative component of the study, regarding their perspectives toward humor in ministry. Results overall…

The present contribution focuses on Benigni's auteur film "La vita è bella" (Italy, 1997) as a tool for the development of language competence in L2 English, Spanish and German, as well as of translation skills from Italian into these languages. The project, developed at the CLASS Language Centre at the University for Foreigners of…

Scholarly communities are dependent on and often measured by their ability to attract and develop doctoral students. Recent literature suggests that most scholarly communities entail ecological niches in which the doctoral students learn the codes and practices of research. In this article, we explore the microclimate in an ecological niche of…

This paper draws on the KINSA project (The Communicative Situation of Immigrants at Swedish Workplaces), which aimed to identify communicative factors that have a positive impact on the integration of second language speakers in the workplace and in their immediate work team. The focus here is on humour and swearing as strategies for doing…

This action research article shares the story of a student teacher and the arduous, but rewarding process of self-reflection. The authors integrate real life examples of the implementation of self-reflective strategies of a student teacher with self-efficacy, teacher life cycle, and effectiveness literature to analyze the student teacher's…

Many studies have reported on the perceptions of medical students toward dissection. It is important to understand the feelings and symptoms experienced during dissection so that they can be adequately handled. Prior to dissection, first year students are given lectures on aspects of dissection, death and dying, and death rituals in various…

This study proposes an engagement model that supports use of course-based online social networks for engaging student, and hence, improving their educational outcomes. This research demonstrates that instructors who create course-based online social networks to communicate with students can increase the student engagement in these online social…

Many of the questions received by the magazine column "Ask Teaching Tolerance" are from educators seeking advice about how to respond when someone--a student, a colleague, even a parent--uses biased language or stereotypes in school. This booklet is a response to these questions. It's for educators who want to develop the skills to speak up…

The purpose of this article is to analyse how humour and narratives about humour are used in a natural group of adults with Asperger's syndrome. Narratives about humour and use of humour in the group are analysed from a discursive psychological perspective, informed by insights from both disability studies and critical autism studies. The setting…

First published in anticipation of the quincentennial of Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of the Americas, Gerald Vizenor's novel "The Heirs of Columbus" (1991) appropriates the European narrative of discovery to privilege a Native perspective that follows "trickster discourse," a mode that rejects the tragic narratives of the European…

The term code-switching (CS) that occurs in everyday situations, or naturalistic code-switching, has been a controversial strategy regarding whether it benefits or impedes language learning. The aim of this study was to investigate CS in conversations between teachers and students of ESP classes in order to explore the types and functions of CS…

The purpose of this capstone project was to design a course description on gelotology, the study of laughter, at a XYZ Institute. The course provides a detailed analysis of the background of gelotology, how the course was designed and how to put the course into application at the capstone site. The course was designed using a sample curriculum as…

This study deals with a special methodology to meet the special needs of Turkish gifted and talented students (GTS) in terms of improving their English oral proficiency. Most GTS are known to have been born also "gifted in languages". Their language awareness shows by their "communicative skills, creative flair and arguing and…

In several enigmatic passages, Paulo Freire describes the pedagogy of the oppressed as a "pedagogy of laughter". The inclusion of laughter alongside problem-posing dialogue might strike some as ambiguous, considering that the global exploitation of the poor is no laughing matter. And yet, laughter seems to be an important aspect of the pedagogy of…