Online Lesson: Communication in Educational Settings

Please open the articles below and read the articles on communication and interaction in the classroom.


Typical classroom discourse patterns are contrasted with "instructional conversations" in this article by Tharp and Yamauchi. This article provides very important insights about effective and ineffective classroom interaction patterns and approaches. I'm sure you'll gain lots of practical information for your own classrooms.

EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL CONVERSATION IN NATIVE AMERICAN CLASSROOMS

This article by Dr. Garcia reviews effective practices in culturally diverse classrooms. Please note that the core of these practices relies on the nature of interaction between students and teachers.

THE EDUCATION OF LINGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS: EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES


Dr. Michael Guerrero's brilliant paper on the Spanish of Spanish-English bilingual teachers is very significant! While the focus is on this linguistic population, you should also view it in terms of other bilingual classrooms with languages other than English. If a child is taught in a language other than English, shouldn't that language be an "educated" register of that language rather than the "social" register if the task of the teacher is to provide access to academic content and academic language in both languages?

Guerrero, M.D. Spanish Academic Language Proficiency: The Case of Bilingual Education Teachers in the US. Bilingual Research Journal, Winter 21 (1) 1997.

Skim the following article and pay particular attention to the conflicting cultural paradigms. Bilingual Teachers participated in a summer language and culture immersion program in Mexico. The experiences of teachers who were native speakers of Spanish were contrasted with those of non-native speakers of Spanish.

Riegelhaupt, F. and R. Carrasco. Mexico Host family reactions to a bilingual chicana teacher in Mexico: a case study of language and culture clash, Bilingual research journal, vol. 24 (4) Fall 2000 .

When you finish these readings, there is a VCC activity for this lesson.

Go back to Communication in Educational Settings