No abstract

Despite the attested association between giftedness and high verbal abilities, and despite the central role attributed to classroom discourse analysis in educational research, discourse in gifted classes has not received due scholarly attention. This study takes a first step toward filling this gap. This study offers a microanalysis of a corpus of recorded and transcribed interactions from classes of gifted students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This study focuses on student initiations and on the ways teachers handle these initiations. It is argued that the preponderance of student initiations in the classes observed sets a fertile ground for dialogic discourse to develop. However, student initiations do not guarantee the emergence of dialogic discourse, since teachers sometimes employ instructional practices that hinder its emergence.

No abstract

No abstract

How do cultural and institutional factors interact in shaping preference structures? This paper presents a cross-cultural analysis of disagreements in three different classroom settings: (1) a year 6 (ages 11–12) mainstream class in England, (2) a fifth-grade class of gifted students in the United States, and (3) a fourth-grade mainstream class in Israel. The aim of the study is to investigate how disagreements are enacted in these settings, exploring the influence of cultural communicative norms on the one hand and pedagogical goals and norms on the other. The study highlights culture-specific discursive patterns that emerge as the teacher and students manage a delicate balance between often clashing cultural and educational motives.