Abstract
As the Hispanic population of the United States continues to increase dramatically, school professionals may misinterpret and may perceive culturally different classroom discourse skills as indicative of language learning disabilities. A possible misunderstanding of pragmatic behaviors of culturally and linguistically diverse Hispanic students may result in inappropriate referrals for special education evaluations. This article will discuss factors related to describing classroom pragmatics or discourse in the context of ethnographic observations in two fourth-grade classrooms in a rural district, with particular attention paid to pragmatic language skills. From the initial comparisons of classroom discourse categories, it appeared that both the general education classroom and the English as a second language classrooms used the discourse categories comparably. However, differences were noted. Knowledge gained from this study should assist teachers become more knowledgeable about classroom language demands placed upon their secondlanguage learners. This information should assist school professionals in recognizing what kind of language is used in classrooms and what language expectations exist for bilingual students. As a consequence, teachers should be able to make more appropriate referrals for special education assessments.
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