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The Lexicon of the Classroom: Language and Learning in Writing Classrooms
Author: Michael Palmquist
Degree: Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Carnegie Mellon University, 1990
This dissertation employs a methodological approach not
previously used in classroom studies to explore the
relationships between language and learning in two
writing classrooms. While classroom teaching and
learning are typically accomplished through the use of
language (e.g., through talking and writing), few
studies of the classroom have considered the
relationship between student learning outcomes and the
language used by students and teachers to discourse
course content. In particular, researchers have not
investigated the often unacknowledged assumption
underlying classroom instruction that the way academic
activities are discussed in the classroom will shape
students' efforts to engage in those activities. An
important obstacle to such studies has been the lack of
appropriate methodological tools. In this dissertation,
a methodological approach that draws upon techniques
from content analysis, cognitive mapping, and text
analysis was used to investigate two introductory
college writing classes. Because the approach had not
previously been used to study classrooms, an important
goal of the study was to assess its efficacy as an
observational and analytical tool. The study
investigated the extent to which the methodological
approach could be used to characterize the shared
lexicons that developed in the two writing classrooms
over the course of an academic term. Shared lexicons
were defined as sets of terms and associated terms that
students and teachers use to refer to academic
activities. It was expected that the students and
teacher in each classroom would negotiate the meaning of
specific terms (e.g., "revision") and the
associations made between those terms (e.g., between
"revision" and "rough draft") as
they discussed writing over the course of the academic
term. Data was collected through (1) observing all class
meetings for one semester, (2) interviewing students,
(3) tracking student interaction, and (4) asking
students to provide written descriptions of writing
activities. Data analysis indicated that the
methodological approach was a useful way to track the
development of consensus concerning curricular concepts
and the associations between those concepts over the
course of the semester. Specifically, this approach
allowed us to see that (1) shared language use increased
over the course of the semester, (2) students' use of
language reflected the curricular goals of the
classroom, and (3) students interaction was strongly
correlated with shared language use and the use of
language which reflected the curricular goals of the
classroom.
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