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Martin Nystrand

Martin Nystrand (born December 28, 1943) is a Composition & Rhetoric researcher and an education theorist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Louise Durham Mead Professor of English Emeritus, Professor of Education Emeritus at the Wisconsin Center for Research (WCER), and a former director of the National Research Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA).

Early life and education

Martin Nystrand was born in Joliet, Illinois, and grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. He received his B.A. in English from Northwestern University, his M.A.T. from Johns Hopkins University in 1966, and his Ph.D in English education from Northwestern University in 1974. During 1971-72, he studied as a special student with James Britton at the University of London.

Career

After teaching as a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Nystrand moved to the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he served as architect of a campus-wide reform of undergraduate writing curriculum and founded the doctoral program in Composition & Rhetoric, Department of English. While also at Wisconsin, he served as a director of the National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA). He was president of the American Education Research Association (AERA) Special Interest Group (SIG) for Writing Research, 1991-1993, as well as the National Conference for Research on Language & Literacy (NCRLL), 2002-2003. In addition to editing Written Communication from 1994-2002, Nystrand has published 8 books, 60 papers & chapters and was awarded the Distinguished Lifetime Research Award from the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy (NCRLL) in 2011.

His research focuses on the dialogic organization of discourse in both writing and classroom discourse. His writing research examines how writing-reader interaction shapes writers' writing processes and development (Nystrand, 1986, The Structure of Written Communication: Studies in Reciprocity Between Writers and Readers (Academic Press, 1986). His classroom discourse research probes the role of classroom interaction in student learning and was the first large-scale empirical study to document the role of open classroom discussion in student learning: Nystrand, 1997, Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Learning in the English Classroom (Teachers College Press, 1997). His study, “Questions in Time: Investigating the Structure and Dynamics of Unfolding Classroom Discourse” (Nystrand et al., 2003) with L. Wu, A. Gamoran, S. Zeiser, D. Long, Discourse Processes, 35 (2003), 135-196) was the first-ever use of event-history analysis to investigate classroom discourse.

In recognition of his research, Professor Nystrand was awarded the 2011 Distinguished Lifetime Research Award from the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy (NCRLL).

Nystrand's current research project in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute for Intelligent Systems to develop a computer program to autonomously measure and assess classroom discourse as it affects student achievement. No observer or research assistant data collector needed, nothing intrusive in classrooms, no violation of teacher or student identity. The goal is a super smart phone app-like device and some microphones that autonomously process classroom discourse and allow teachers do-it-yourself professional development.

Selected bibliography

Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A., Kachur, R., and Prendergast, C. (1997). Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Learning in the English Classroom. Language and Literacy Series. Teachers College Press.

Nystrand, M., Himley, M., Doyle, A. (1986). The structure of written communication: Studies in reciprocity between writers and readers. Academic Press.

Applebee, A.N., Langer, J.A., Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A. (2003). Discussion-based approaches to developing understanding: Classroom instruction and student performance in middle and high school English. American Educational Research Journal 40 (3), 685-730.

Nystrand, M., and Gamoran, A. (1991). Instructional discourse, student engagement, and literature achievement. Research in the Teaching of English, 1991, 261-290.

Nystrand, M., Wu, L.L., Gamoran, A., Zeiser, S., and Long, D.A. (2003). Questions in time: Investigating the structure and dynamics of unfolding classroom discourse. Discourse processes 35 (2), 135-198.

Gamoran, A., Nystrand, M., Berends, M., and LePore. P.C. (1995). An organizational analysis of the effects of ability grouping. American Educational Research Journal 32 (4), 687-715.

Nystrand, M. A social-interactive model of writing. (1989). Written communication 6 (1), 66-85.

Nystrand, M., Greene, S., and Wiemelt. J. (1993) Where did composition studies come from? An intellectual history. Written communication 10 (3), 267-333.

Nystrand, M. (1982). What writers know: The language, process, and structure of written discourse. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.

Nystrand, M. (2006). Research on the role of classroom discourse as it affects reading comprehension. Research in the Teaching of English, 2006. 392-412.

Nystrand, M., and Gamoran, A. (1990). Student Engagement: When Recitation Becomes Conversation. National Center on Effective Secondary Schools.

Nystrand, M. (1997). Dialogic instruction: When recitation becomes conversation. Opening dialogue: Understanding the dynamics of language and learning in the English classroom. Teachers College Press. Pp 1-29.

Nystrand, M. (2006). The Social and Historical Context for Writing Research. Handbook of writing research. The Guilford Press.