No abstract

In this paper we propose a theoretical reassessment of the discourse-analytic tools that are used in classroom research and of the data that are addressed. To that end we present in-depth analyses of 1) an IRE structure in a first English (EFL) lesson in a Dutch secondary school; 2) episodes from Dutch as a second language classes in a school for refugee children; 3) two instructional units that were used as reflection data in a university teacher training course. All of these exhibit complex footing changes (Goffman, 1981) and instances of co-speaking, muttering, whispering, overhearing etc. that are largely unexplored in classroom research. Yet these phenomena co-construct the interactional matrix that organizes participation and learning in multiparty settings. To shed light on what happens in the structural niches of turns and at the fuzzy edges of speakingslots-in-progress we need a more dynamic and complex notion of context. Speaker/hearer roles may be embedded in or parasitic on each other along a continuum of official and informal or collusive stances. In our proposals to model emerging discourse complexity, subtle changes in register, bodily posture, tone of voice, rhythm and pitch are an integral part of what constitutes 'the data'.

No abstract

The powerful role of prior experiences and cultural schemata in guiding novice teachers' conceptions of how to teach is hardly contested. We report on a 'reflective practicum' at the very beginning of a pre-service teacher education course that interconnects prior beliefs, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action and that, in principle, models a complete reflection cycle. Peer-teaching activities zoom in on the extent to which a priori ideas about good teaching may be shared: rooted in cultural metaphors that can be made more analytically transparent. Triangulation and peerscaffolding across institutional roles yield an emerging awareness that conventions for doing interaction are sensitive to local conditions that can be systematically explored. The students reframe and refine their initial ideas about good teaching in terms of questions about practices in authentic classroom situations, thus creating a bridge between theory and practice. We conclude that detailed observation and more sophisticated analytical tools are needed to trace how learning and reflection are discursively constructed in the moment-by-moment shifting participation formats of institutional interactions.

You will be contacted as soon as possible.