Mike’s review:

These are all my thoughts while reading. No conventional stuff.

Okay, I lied. One conventional thing: too many prepositional endings!

Clearly stated point to this paper. Culture and language joined at the hip. Nicely worded. Easy to recall.

(at the top of my mind.. if you haven’t already, check out Ira Shor’s Empowering Education. Last half of his book has a great section on student culture and teacher research.)

Really appreciate the outline/summary in the beginning of the paper. Very clearly written, gives the reader reason to keep reading. Nice!

Because I’m not a believer of the whole 5 million years ago concept, maybe an introduction to that reference would be helpful. Might add more gusto to the section on the primitive evolution of language.

In this paragraph:
“For 100,000 years man has been using increasingly more sophisticated language in order to convey thoughts, ideas, to persuade, communicate, and express emotion. The development and refinement of culture was in part possible because of the evolution of language. Language is an important part of all cultures. The ability to write effectively in any culture is dependent on the writer’s language proficiency.”

–    you talk about the use of language in general terms (but oral language use is assumed), then jump into written language. My only concern here is the striking difference between oral and written language learning. I’ll try to recall where I got this, but I recently read that verbal language is innate, but written is not.

I want to see more information on your sources. Give them some more credibility.

I think there needs to be more clarity in this paragraph:
“The concept of “language as power” is relevant given the previous discussion of the importance of language in a culture. Power in a culture is held by those people who are the most articulate and those people who have a “command of the language.” Our current president is an example of someone who has “climbed the rungs to power” due in large part to his rhetorical skills. Language is also used as a means of control in the classroom. The verbal skills of the teacher are constantly on display to guide, admonish, lead, manage, and facilitate. So, it is obvious that the power wielded by language can be used positively or negatively. It is the positive use of language that I would like to discuss further.”
–    where are you getting the quoted phrases?

Not sure what “pause fillers” are.

I got a little lost in your section on communication strategies. I think part of my trouble was not knowing what the importance of this section is in terms of your overall objective.

On your section about visual aids, this may or may not be pertinent to your research, but there is a program designed for teaching reading to infants and toddlers that uses visual aids. I’ll try and remember what it’s called, but it goes along with what you’re saying, and I bet they have some research on the actual brain stuff.

I really like your explanation and quote on the cultural pluralism. Gibson’s model makes it very easy to grasp.

Mike- overall quite good. Very interesting to read. I had a few “ah-ha” moments along the way, and I feel that you covered your subject thoroughly. I liked the way you focused on one area of research at a time. It doesn’t seem jumbled to me at all, but very linear. I would encourage you to consider checking out Empowering Education by Ira Shor. He delves pretty deeply into the subject of the importance of teachers researching student culture in whichever city or community they are teaching. Thanks for having me read this. Great job.