Teacher Talk

A treasure of practical ideas for teachers. Learn strategies to help your students become more productive and self-reliant. Improve your teaching skills and build mutually respectful relationships with your students. Learn language patterns that motivate students to become confident and caring.

"This booklet provides practical ways to make the most of everyday interactions and conversations by focusing on children's interests and providing language appropriate to their respective language levels."--Introduction.

"Whereas most studies of either teacher retention or student drop outs focuses on big-picture policy implications, The Power of Teacher Talk makes the case that the most important factor for keeping teachers and students in school is the everyday interactions between teacher and student, recognizing the key role of classroom teachers in addressing both problems"--

Native and Non-Native Teacher Talk in the EFL Classroom explores and compares the linguistic features of native and non-native English teacher talk with the aid of corpus linguistics. Setting aside the wide range of audio and video materials available, the EFL teacher is in many instances the main model of English to which students are exposed in secondary-level education. The basis of this book is to work towards a framework for the language that teachers of English need to be proficient in, based on an empirical study of language used in the ELT classroom by both native and expert non-native users. Presenting a corpus-informed treatment of the precise linguistic features used by EFL teachers within the framework of their most common teaching functions, this book: • Relates directly to the teacher talk of secondary-level EFL teachers; • Combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to data analysis; • Looks into pedagogical implications for ELT and proposes a flexible language development model based on evidence from the teacher training classroom; • Provides a corpus-based repertoire of language for the classroom which is of relevance to native and non-native student-teachers and practising teachers. Highlighting the need for much greater awareness of the impact of language use in both learning and teaching, this book is a major resource for advanced students and researchers of TESOL, classroom discourse, corpus linguistics, ELT, English for professional purposes, and teaching placement preparation.

We all want our students to feel safe, collaborate well with others, feel ownership for their learning, and be joyfully engaged in their work. Nevertheless, many teachers end up using language patterns that undermine these goals. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? We want students to take responsibility for their learning, yet we use language that implies teacher ownership. We want to build positive relationships with students, yet we use sarcasm when we get frustrated. We want students to think learning is fun, yet we sometimes make comments that suggest the opposite. We want students to exhibit good behavior because it's the right thing to do, yet we rely on threats and bribes, which implies students don’t naturally want to be good. What teachers say to students—when they praise or discipline, give directions or ask questions, and introduce concepts or share stories—affects student learning and behavior. A slight change in intonation can also dramatically change how language feels for students. In What We Say and How We Say It Matter, Mike Anderson digs into the nuances of language in the classroom. This book's many examples will help teachers examine their language habits and intentionally improve their classroom practice so their language matches and supports their goals.

How to communicate with students to support their learning and development.

The studies gathered and reported in this volume by Maria Lourdes S. Bautista represent the first sustained effort in this country going beyond one-time studies to fulfill the requirement of a masteral thesis or doctoral dissertation to study interaction in different classes of one institution and to look at the process for possible implications for language teaching. The pioneering set of studies uses both a qualitative description of the ethnography of speaking in a classroom setting and a quantitative counting of questions and answers summarized in percentage to yield proportions of teacher talk and student talk in different classrooms in literature, language, and English for Specific Purposes. What the studies yield is insight into the actual instructional procedures that take place, the teacher behaviors, and the learner behaviors in terms of verbal responses.

Few skills are as critical or as rare today as the ability to hear and comprehend what other people are saying. The authors of' Hands Down, Speak Out' argue that we need new tools to teach the art of listening and they' ve put forward a simple yet transformative model for encouraging student conversations that are inclusive, empowering, and rich in content. This classroom guide for grades K-5 is particularly needed in the aftermath of two disrupted school years.' ' Teaching Foundational Skills Across Subjects:' Hands Down, Speak Out' is a practical guide for teaching listening and talking skills that span both literacy and math instruction and can be applied to a multitude of curriculums. K-5 Classroom Management Focused on Dialogue: Too often, the practice of hand-raising favors the performance of answers by a few students over the construction of meaning involving the whole class. Help' all' students develop dialogue skills that will deepen their understanding of literacy and mathematics, as well as of themselves, their communities, and the world. 28 Student-Centered Micro Lessons: Each of these short, incremental lessons build specific skills during content instruction rather than taking time away from it. Students will be energized by a discourse structure in which their ideas and voices take the lead while teachers focus on listening and facilitating. Nurturing Disagreements: The authors' provide guidance for managing difficult conversations by teaching students to engage in debate and discussion in a way that values listening equally with talking. Students are able to spend time developing active listening and speaking skills in a constructive environment. When we build talk communities with children, our greatest hope is that what they learn through talking about reading, writing, and math is matched by what they learn about living in the world with others, write Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson.' Hands Down, Speak Out' demonstrates how teachers and leaders can run inclusive and accessible classrooms that respect each student' s level of participation.