Words and Minds takes a look at the evolution of language and how we use language in joint activities. Examining everyday language and drawing on a range of research, Neil Mercer provides a unified account of the relationship between thought and language. Mercer analyzes real-life examples of language being used effectively or otherwise in many different settings, including workplaces and schools, the home, the Internet, and the courtroom, and offers practical insights into how we might improve our communication skills. The book should appeal to anyone interested in language and how we use...

This work should be useful reading for MA students on TESOL and Applied Linguistics courses. The selection of commissioned and classic articles in this reader introduces a range of theories of second language acquisition and the contested explanations of effective language learning. Sociolinguistic, ethnographic and social-psychological perspectives on TESOL teaching and learning are covered as well as the development of English language teaching methodologies. Strategies and goals for TESOL teaching are explored and in the final part of the book reflective research methods for the critical...

This work should be useful reading for MA students on TESOL and Applied Linguistics courses. The selection of commissioned and classic articles in this reader introduces a range of theories of second language acquisition and the contested explanations of effective language learning. Sociolinguistic, ethnographic and social-psychological perspectives on TESOL teaching and learning are covered as well as the development of English language teaching methodologies. Strategies and goals for TESOL teaching are explored and in the final part of the book reflective research methods for the critical...

This book draws on extensive research to provide a ground-breaking new account of the relationship between dialogue and children's learning development. It closely relates the research findings to real-life classrooms, so that it is of practical value to teachers and students concerned that their children are offered the best possible learning opportunities.

The authors provide a clear, accessible and well-illustrated case for the importance of dialogue in children's intellectual development and support this with a new and more educationally relevant version of socio-cultural...

Bringing together leading international researchers and drawing on the pioneering work of Douglas Barnes, this book considers ways of improving classroom talk. The book covers classroom communication and managing social relations; talk in science classrooms; using critical conversations in studying literature; exploratory talk and thinking skills; talking to learn and learning to talk in the mathematics classroom; and the 'emerging pedagogy' of the spoken word.

First published in 1987, Common Knowledge offers a radical departure from the traditionally individualistic psychologies which have underpinned modern approaches to educational theory and practice. The authors present a study of education as the creation of 'common knowledge' or shared understanding between teacher and pupils. They show the presenting, receiving, sharing, controlling, negotiating, understanding and misunderstanding of knowledge in the classroom to be an intrinsically social communicative process which can be revealed only through close analysis of joint activity and classroom...

Written in an accessible and jargon-free style, 'Interthinking' challenges the myth of the 'lone genius' by exploring the growing body of work on how people create and invent together. It brings together the socio-cultural concepts of 'inter-thinking', 'dialogic space' and 'exploratory talk' as well as new research from these internationally acclaimed authors to uncover the nature and significance of collective creativity.

First published in 1987, Common Knowledge offers a radical departure from the traditionally individualistic psychologies which have underpinned modern approaches to educational theory and practice. The authors present a study of education as the creation of 'common knowledge' or shared understanding between teacher and pupils. They show the presenting, receiving, sharing, controlling, negotiating, understanding and misunderstanding of knowledge in the classroom to be an intrinsically social communicative process which can be revealed only through close analysis of joint activity and classroom...