Research Concepts Martin Nystrand

1 research concepts

1.1 discourse community
1.2 doctrine of autonomous text
1.3 textual space
1.4 authentic teacher questions
1.5 question events
1.6 dialogic spells , dialogic bids

research concepts

nystrand s research focuses on dialogic organization of discourse in both writing , classroom discourse. writing research examines how writing-reader interaction shapes writers writing processes , development (nystrand, structure of written communication: studies in reciprocity between writers , readers (academic press, 1986). classroom discourse research probes role of classroom interaction in student learning , first large-scale empirical study document role of open classroom discussion in student learning: nystrand, opening dialogue: understanding dynamics of language , learning in english classroom (teachers college press, 1997). study, “questions in time: investigating structure , dynamics of unfolding classroom discourse” l. wu, a. gamoran, s. zeiser, d. long, discourse processes, 35 (2003), 135-196) first use of event-history analysis investigate classroom discourse.

nystrand s work has introduced several seminal concepts in current research:

writing research:

discourse community

social groups share discourse practices. see discourse community nystrand, m. (1982). rhetoric’s “audience” , linguistics’ “speech community”: implications understanding writing, reading, , text. writers know: language, process, , structure of written discourse (pp. 1–30). new york: academic press.

doctrine of autonomous text

written texts differ conversational utterances in explicitness; autonomous texts mean , mean say. see nystrand, m., himley, m., , doyle, a. (1986). critical examination of doctrine of autonomous texts. in m. nystrand, structure of written communication: studies in reciprocity between writers , readers. new york: academic press.

textual space

the semiotic space created interaction of writers , readers when texts read: text manifestation of textual space parameters defined reader-writer interaction. see nystrand, m. (1982). structure of textual space. in m. nystrand, writers know: language, process, , structure of written discourse (pp. 75–86). new york: academic press.

classroom discourse , dialogic pedagogy:

authentic teacher questions

questions without prespecified answers. see nystrand, m. (1997). opening dialogue: understanding dynamics of language , learning in english classroom. language , literacy series. teachers college press, p. 7.

question events

interactions surrounding questions plotted in event history analysis. see nystrand, m., wu, l.l., gamoran, a., zeiser, s., , long, d.a. (2003). questions in time: investigating structure , dynamics of unfolding classroom discourse. discourse processes 35 (2), 144.

dialogic spells , dialogic bids

dialogic spells modes of classroom discourse somewhere between recitation , discussion, characterized engaged student questions , absence of teacher test questions. dialogic bid teacher discourse move responding , taking ideas , observations introduced students; examples include student questions, uptake, , authentic questions. see nystrand, m., wu, l.l., gamoran, a., zeiser, s., , long, d.a. (2003). questions in time: investigating structure , dynamics of unfolding classroom discourse. discourse processes 35 (2), 144-151.