DOCUMENT RESUME ED 318 076 CS 507 150 AUTHOP Hynds, Susan, Ed.; Rubin, Donald L., Ed. TITLE Perspectives on Talk and Learning. NCTE Forum Series. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, Ill. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-3524-2 PUB DATE 90 NOTE 304p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers ofEnglish, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801 (Stock No.3252-3020, $10.95, member, $14.25 nonmember). PUB TY Books (010) -- Collected Works- General (020) EARS PRICE mFol/Pc13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Classroom Environment; Cooperative Learning; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; *Instructional Effectiveness; *Instructional Innovation; tLearning Experience; *Oral Language; *Teaching Methods IDENTIFIERS *Collaborative Learning; *Conversation; Learning Environment ABSTRACT In this book, teacher educators and researchers show how classrooms can come alive when talk is used constructively. Following an introduction by Donald L. Rubin, the articles include: "Speaking Creatures in the Classroom" (Judith Wells Lindfors); "Oral Language and Learning" (Douglas Barnes); "Negotiation, Language, and Inquiry: Building Knowledge Collaboratively in the Classroom" (Cynthia Onore); "Asking Questions about Questions" (Theresa Roger and others); "Play Talk, School Talk, and Emergent Literacy" (Lee Galda and A. D. Pellegrini); "Talking Up a Writing Community: Th_ Role of Talk in Learning to Write" (Anne Haas Dyson); "Talking in Writing Groups" (Anne Ruggles Gere); "Reading and Response to Literature: Transactionalizing Instruction" (3tanley B. Straw); "Teacher/Student Talk: The Collaborative Conference" (Muriel Harris); "Talking Life and Literature" (Susan Hynds); "Student Performance of Literature" (Elizabeth C. Fine); "Dramatic Improvisation in the Classroom" (Betty Jane Wagner); "Learning to Listen and Learning to Read" (Sara W. Lundsteen); "Oral Activities in the English Classroom" (Phil Backlund); "Language Diversity and Learning" (Lisa D. Delpit); "Bilingual/ESL Learners Talking in the English Classroom" (Sarah Hudelson); and "The Silent Sounds of Language Variation in the Classroom" (Jerrie Cobb Scott). (MG) *********************************W************************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. **A******************************************************************** e "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS UAL DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Office of Educations, Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC/ O This document has been reproduced as received orl itfrere the PersonOrenlinIzatr°n CI Minor changes have been made to Improve reproduction quality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES PointS of view or opinions stated in this dOCti- INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or coliCy NCTE Yearbook Committee 1988 Margaret Early, Chair, University of Florida Jesse Perry, San Diego City Schools Donald C. Stewart Kansas State University Eileen Tway, Miami University Julie Jensen, ex officio, University of Texa ,t Austin 3 Perspectiveson Talk and Learning Edited by Susan Hynds Syracuse University Donald L. Rubin University of Georgia 41) National Council of Teachers of English 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 NCTE Editorial Board: Richard Abrahamson, Celia Genishi Richard Lloyd- Jones, Raymond Rodrigues, Brooke Workman; Charles Suho., chair, ex officio; Michael Spooner, ex officio Staff Editor: David A. Hamburg Cover Design: Carlton Bruett Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design NCTE Stock Number 3252-3020 1990 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach- ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Co! egress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perspectives on talk and learning edited by Susan Hynds, Donald L. Rubin, p. cm. (NCTE forum series) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8141-3524-2 1. English languageStudy and teaching.2. Oral communication. 3. Interaction analysis in education.4. Language arts.I. Hynds, Susan.II. Rubin, Donald L.III. National Council of Teachers of English.IV. Series. LB1576.P5441990 372.6'044 dc20 90-33763 CIP Contents ronIVOni vii I. Introduction: Ways of .Falkin; about Talking and Learning 1 Donald L. Rubin I Learning to Talk and Talking To Learn 2. Speaking Creatures in the Classroom 21 Judith Wells Lindfors 3. Oral Language and Learning 41 Douglas Barnes IITalk in the Learning Cc mmunity 4. Negotiation, Language, and Inquiry: Building Knowledge Colli+oratively in the Classroom 57 Cynthia Onore 5. Asking Questions about Questions 73 Theresa RJgers, Judith L. Green, and Nancy Ryan Nussbaum 6. Play Talk, School Talk, and Emergent Literacy 91 Lee Galda and A. D. Pellegrini 7. Talking Up a Writing Community: The Role of Talk in Learning to Write 99 Anne Haas Dyson 8. Talking in Writing Groups 115 Anne Ruggles Gere 6: vi Contents 9. Reading and Response to Literature: Transactionalizing Instruction 129 Stanley B. Straw 10. Teacher/Student Talk: The Collaborative Conference 149 Muriel Harris II. Talking Life and Literature 163 Susan Hynds 12. Student Performance of Literature 179 Elizabeth C. Fine 13. Dramatic Improvisation in the Classroom 195 Betty Jane Wagner 14. Learning to Listen and Learning to Read 213 Sara W. Lundsteen 15. Oral Activities in the English Classroom 227 Phil Backlund IIITalking across Cultvrgel Boundaries 16. Language Diversity and Learning 247 Lisa D. Delpit 17. Bilingual/ESL Learners Talking in the English Classroom 267 Sarah Hudelson 18. The Silent Sounds of Language Variation in the Classroom 285 ;eyrie Cobb Scott Editors 299 Contributors 301 '7 Foreword This collection is the third volume in a series commissioned by the NCTE Executive Committee during the late 1980s and created by the NCTE Yearbook Committee under the guidance first of Ben Nelms and then of Margaret Early, chairs. The Forum Series (originally the NCTE Yearbooks) was conceived as an opportunity for discussions of the central issues of pedagogy and policy that affect English teachers across teaching levels. In the first volume, Consensus and Dissent, edited by Marjorie Farmer, contributors examined many of the conflicting pressurespolitical, curricular, institutionalon the professional lives of English and language arts teachers. The second volume, Liter- ature in the Classroom, under the editorship of Ben Nelms, advanced the professional conversation about the place of literature in the English curriculum. An especially timely work, it managed to weave a useful and influential discussion from the rather disparate strands of reading theory, literary criticism, and classroom practice. Timeliness, in fact, has been one of the most satisfying things about the Forum Series thus far. For each of the first two volumes, the committee not only selected discussions with deep significance for our profession, but also man- aged to catch those discussions as their significance was still emerging. I'm optimistic that these volumes have found their audiences at a most receptive moment, at a moment when the lcholarship and plain good sense represented in them could have their best effect. With the present collection, Perspectives on Talk and Learning the com- mittee has another timely volume to offer. For some time, scholarship in a variety of disciplines has been uncovering the importance of oral language in learning. Freire's description of a "culture of silence" among the sociopolitically oppressed urges us to examine the culture we foster (and sometimes impose) in the classroom. Tannen's complex insights on oral-based cultures admonish us to be aware of the dom- inance of essayistic literacy in academic discourse and the difficulties that that dominance may create for many students. Work with basic writers, with elementary writers, work in collaborative learning, in dialogue journals, writing centers, and workshops, all point to the usefulness of drawing on the vitality of students' oral language as we vii viii Foreword coach them toward growth in other literacies. We are coming to appre- ciate the role that oral language plays in the learning processand to agree with Rubin, who says (in alt1Sell$11$and Dissent) that "speaking and listening instruction are clearly central to what ought to be going on in English and language artsclasses." So now seems an appropriate time to frame a systematic discussion of talk and learning in the English curriculum, and that is what Susan Hynds and Dona la L. Rubin have done with this volume. Of course, no single work can offer an exhaustive treatment of a subject so vast and complex, but we hope that in the forum between these covers you'll hear many significant voices. We hope you'll find yourselfdrawn into the discussion. We hope you'll allow this forum to affect your own perspective on talk and learning. Michael Spooner Senior Editor fcr Publications 1 Introduction: Ways of Talking about Talking and Learning Donald L. Rubin University of Georgia Eight-year-old Emily is explaining why it has taken her so lorg to come down to the kitchen at dinner time: I was looking