This paper synthesizes conceptual and empirical literature on organizational learning interventions based on dialogue. First, I attempt to delineate the concept of dialogue and to explain its relevance to organizational learning. Examples and arguments in support of dialogic learning initiatives are presented. Organizational realities and…

This paper aims to discuss the challenges in the process of building a learning community in Vietnamese primary schools. Five lessons emerge from the cases. First, changing teachers' beliefs is time-consuming. Second, because of the reluctance of teachers to change, large-scale delivery of the educational project should be critically revisited…

This study reports about a yearlong study of the initiation of novice grant writers to the activity system of National Institutes of Health grant applications. It investigates the use of cognitive apprenticeship within writing classrooms and that of social apprenticeship in laboratories, programs, departments, and universities, which introduced…

This article reports a self-study conducted during my four-year tenure as head of the elementary school department within a college of education. During that period, I explored my developing understanding of the role of relationships in the processes of my professional and personal growth. I describe the three cycles of action that comprise the…

This volume in the TESOL Classroom Practice Series asks one fundamental question, "How can teachers teach the students, not the book?" The response, given within "Using Textbooks Effectively", is to move beyond the textbook as a separate entity and view it instead as part of the ESOL curriculum process and as a tool for student learning. The…

This dissertation addresses the related questions of how online communication technologies affect communication in science and, more broadly, how new ways of interaction in online spaces affect how texts enact genres. Genres have been usefully thought of as typified discursive responses to recurrent social exigences, and much recent work has shown…

Migration has shifted the world's population such that hardly a monocultural society still exists. These demographic changes have brought about changes in the strategies used to maintain national unity and in the distribution of benefits, goods, and services within the society. Providing equitable access to high-quality education has been among…

This article attempts to explore the concept of the professional learning community from the critical discourse perspective. Instead of viewing collective learning as being controlled by higher levels within the school hierarchy as a means to increase power, critical discourse seeks to uncover how power, knowledge, and truth are continuously being…

Findings related to the background knowledge, writing, and reading of disadvantaged students in a South African university geography department are discussed. The notion "academic discourse community" is used as an analytical framework. Findings indicate that students and instructors alike face several extreme challenges. (Contains 6…

High school teacher James C. Mayer explains how a student-run symposium can promote "risk-taking and participation" and help students practice effective persuasion skills before demonstrating them in writing. The symposium places students in roles that encourage responsibility and ownership for discussion and learning, shifting the classroom…

Contends that critical audience research has resisted "scientific" discourses that appear positivist. States that recent research begins to show the same errors as earlier positivist style--re-emergence of debates on political economy and cultural imperialism are aimed at overturning what are seen as orthodoxies of opposition and…

The paper discusses the value of peer observation followed by professional learning conversations for the professional development of teacher educators. The authors Analise their shared learning experiences and articulate what challenged them in these experiences. They discuss the ways in which their perceptions of this process differed or were…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the central role of critical reflection for practitioners. Design/methodology/approach: This joint paper is informed by a practitioner and an academic perspective and is an output from ongoing research. An MA in Strategic HR provides the initial focus. This partnership programme is…

Our argument concerning the debate around the process of "conceptual change" is that it is both an evolutionary learning process and a revolutionary paradigm change. To gain a deeper understanding of the process, the article focuses on the discourse of educational facilitators participating in a community of learners. Applying the methodology of…

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…