Briefly defined, discursive practices in education are the uses of language in an educational context (e.g., the typical pattern of teacher question, student answer, teacher feedback) or the use of language in context relating to education (e.g., state legislators' talk when making new educational laws). Language includes spoken, signed, and written forms of communication. Context includes the aspects of the situation in which such communication takes place that affect the meaning of the communication either in its production or its reception. Part of the context of language use is the relevant language that comes before and after the particular discursive practice in question. Thus, discursive practices generally encompass language chunks larger than one sentence.

Discursive practices in education are increasingly of interest to a number ...