Researching classroom interaction and talk

Background

The social and contextual nature of human learning has received great emphasis in research on learning and instruction. Attention has been paid to the practices, processes and conditions leading to the social construction of knowledge in different learning situations. The focus of analysis has been extended from external factors influencing learning processes and achievements to the student’s participation in and evolving interpretations of the learning activit. In the midst of these changes in emphasis, new methodological questions concerning the analysis of classroom interaction and learning have arisen. Questions to which researchers have been trying to find answers are, for example:

• What qualitative differences can be found within and between interactive activities across a variety of learning contexts?
• What typically happens during classroom interaction?
• How can practitioners and researchers develop and strengthen their understandings about optimal learning within inherently social settings (e.g. classrooms)?

The aim of this project was to study and analyze classroom interaction, and especially the discourse which characterizes this. One of its main outcomes was a set of methodological tools to use in researching classroom interaction.