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As we stated earlier, inquiry over time is an important factor to successful place-based writing. Gruchow (1995) explained the importance of ongoing inquiry: All history is ultimately local and personal. To tell what we remember, and to keep on telling it, is to keep the past alive in the present. Should we not do so, […]

So far, this article has looked at building students’ resources for literal participation in conversation. The focus turns now to the other sense of conversation, that is, to engagement with the ideas and experiences of others (Appiah, 2007). Engagement cannot be taken for granted. In part, this is because conversation across difference can be face […]

By way of example, consider the following interaction drawn from interviews conducted as part of a study of the engagement in schooling of middle school students who arrived in Australia as refugees from Africa. The interaction was elicited by the question “What do you like doing best [at school]” The young Sudanese student replied, “reading.” […]

The preceding paragraphs targeted ELLs’ plurilingual competence. However, proficient speakers need to do their part by preempting and fixing misunderstanding. Some preemptive strategies, such as making room in conversations for learners to speak, and taking up and recasting learners’ partially correct or incomplete responses, have already been described in detail in the reading literature on […]

After establishing that differences of language or language proficiency require speakers to contribute differently to conversation, the next step is to help students improve their conversation skills. For ELLs, it is important that they be able to point out misunderstandings. When they are not completely reliant on proficient speakers to check, diagnose, and fix problems, […]