Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning

Courtney Cazden has written an interesting book reviewing and explaining the research on educational discourse, or the exchanges between teachers and learners in the school environment and how they contribute to or inhibit learning. I wouldn't pick this up as a light book of choice, but as a required text for a graduate course, I find it helpful and easy to understand. She reminds the reader at the outset that she is both a teacher and a researcher, and it's obvious that her experience in the real world of the classroom contributes to making her writing so accessible and enjoyable.

Courtney Cazden's revised version (2001) of Classroom Discourse is as powerful as her original in 1988 and just as important for teachers. This edition is updated with recent research and examples from a wide range of educational settings. Language is the primary medium of teaching and learning, yet many teachers do not have the tools to examine their own ways of using language and those of the students they teach. Cazden helps us become conscious of the different kinds of discourse that teachers and children engage in and understand how teachers can foster classroom discourse that promotes the best learning.