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This thesis presents visualisation as a method for research on learner interaction. The visualisation is designed to account for the dynamics of learner interaction across the duration of language classroom activities. The development of this method includes the formulation of a dynamical perspective on learner interaction, which draws on sociocultural and complexity theory. The visualisation is developed with, and applied to, data from three pairs of participants engaged in a series of similar English writing activities in a Norwegian primary classroom. The thesis provides a detailed discussion of how this learner interaction data was transcribed, coded and eventually visualised. The application of the visualisation to the Norwegian primary classroom data resulted in the identification of patterns and phases in the participants' learner interaction. These patterns and phases revealed both common and unique dynamics across the three cases of interaction. The outcome of the visual analysis of one of the cases was used to guide an in-depth analysis of episodes of learner talk. This in-depth analysis confirmed some of the dynamics established by the visual analysis. A final visual analysis identified different change processes in the three cases of learner interaction across the series of similar writing activities. Overall, the visualisation helped to make transparent how both the writing activity and the participants' own contributions affected the dynamics of learner interaction. The thesis concludes that, in the terms of the dynamical perspective developed by the thesis, visualisation was an effective method for describing the dynamics of learner interaction in the writing activities the participants were engaged in. The thesis also suggests that visualisation can be used in conjunction with other methods for researching learner interaction. Finally, the thesis points out some limitations of the present implementation of visualisation, and makes suggestions for how the method can be improved through further research.

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This report presents the initaitvies made by teachers in form of questions during four lessons in a highschool class. A class in senior highschool was filmed during six hours with four different teachers. The number of questions and other initiatives were counted. The dialogue was transcribed with CA regarding examples from questioning and dialogue. The study examined how many closed(open and rhetorical questions the teacher initiate. The initiatives from pupils in form of questions where also examined. The aim was to see whether or not there were any gender differences. The result show that the teacher dominate the classroom dialogue with more than 68% of the speech acts and that the closed questions still dominate the classroom. There were no gender differences in the total amount of classroomtime, but in the math session the boys dominated. Regarding initiatives from pupils there were no gender differences, but there were many comments and answers who were spoken out loud in the classroom without any order. The conclusion from this report is that the old patterns with the tacher domination in the classroom communication remains and that there are very few open questions which could benfit dialogue and democatic values.

Abstract This paper describes an analysis of social practice taking place between teachers and students within the classroom in a Tanzanian Secondary School. The aim of this contemporary study is to describe and explain classroom interaction with respect to existing role patterns and frame factors. The studied material consists primarily of collected data from classroom observations, with concentration on one class in form one and five single teachers. In addition to the observation method the investigation is also based on complementary informant study where five students within the observed class were interviewed.  An analysis consisting of categorisation, description, and explanation of the different variables of verbal and written communication is expected to yield information about the social practice within the Tanzanian classroom. Such information will aid in addressing a potential connection between pattern of roles and certain frame factors.   The results of the observations imply that the teacher has the most active role; the teaching was almost entirely based on the use of direct, reproductive, teacher-centered methods leaving diminutive room for student moves.  A notably high frequency of questions of a reproductive form, where students merely had to emulate the teacher, was discovered. Even though students were rarely addressed with questions of an open form, observations and interviews reveal students’ eager to break free from their constrained roles. What occurred to be a fixed pattern of steered activities turned out to be highly dynamical process. Considering relevant frame factors, there are reasons to believe that the Tanzanian classroom interaction is about to shift from a monologic to a dialogic classroom discourse; making this a highly interesting matter to investigate.

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Teaching is a dynamic process involving teachers and learners in meaningful and collaborative efforts. Therefore, interacting with learners in the classroom is of vital importance to the teacher in order to enhance the teaching and learning process. The purpose of this research is to determine the factors influencing the participation of secondary school science learners in classroom communication (CC). The study was conducted in all the secondary schools in the Potchefstroom area, A questionnaire was compiled to investigate learners' level of participation in science CC, An interview guide for teachers was also compiled. A total of 235 Grade B learners were randomly selected from twelve (12) schools. The analysis showed that the teachers used primarily teaching-learning procedures that did not conform to the requirements of OBE. The reason is not necessarily that they are not well-informed on OBE principles, but the practicality of their leaching situations necessitated it In the process, learners do not acquire enough knowledge and skills needed for science classroom learning activities. This fails the main aim of enabling learners to participate in classroom communication, The limited use of communicative strategies in science teaching-learning can be attributed to a number of possible reasons, amongst which are: communication apprehension, poor language development, culture/heredity, and the types of classroom reinforcements and teaching styles. This study also focused on the factors that can positively influence classroom communication. An interview was conducted with teachers with the help of an interview guide. The results indicated that teachers, although generally warm and accepting, seem to be inflexible and lack dynamism when presenting the lesson, which in tum affects learners' participation in the classroom / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2002

This thesis approaches classroom interaction in association with Bakhtin and conversation analysis (CA). The four studies presented in this thesis seek to highlight different aspects of classroom interactional encounters between the students and teachers of a secondary school class. Through these studies, the thesis addresses the following challenges: How can analysts account for ‘multilingual’ communicative practices in a way which respects the views and orientations of the participants? How may dialogism be relevant for classroom interaction? How can we move beyond the representational (in)sufficiency of an oral language focus on (classroom) communication for analysis of human meaning making practices? The studies arise from ethnographic fieldwork at an independent secondary school with a ‘bilingual’ educational profile where data of everyday instructional life was generated through participant observation and video recordings. Methodologically, the studies have been enabled by Bakhtinian concepts and conversation analytic conventions amplified for analysis of the complex range of modalities composing classroom interaction. Study 1 examines the way participants’ use of two (or more) languages in a ‘foreign’ language classroom throw light on each other in processes of lexical orientation which challenge the privileging or the subordination of any one language in language learning. Study 2 demonstrates the consequences for understanding the participants’ sense-making efforts of making representationally (in)visible integral aspects of their multimodal cooperations. Study 3 focuses on whole-class task instructions as interactionally complex by showing some of the mutual orientations through which teacher and students coordinate each other’s stances and consequently craft instructions collaboratively. Study 4 examines the concept of languaging critically in the light of Bakhtin’s penetrating perception of the utterance and underscores that while we may be able to language when communicating, we are also languaged communicators. / <p>The research is a part of Swedish Research Council project LISA-21</p>

Extensive attention is given to the significance of promoting thinking skills in education. However, very little research has attempted to explore EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher cognition of thinking skills, even it directly influences children’s thinking and learning. In recent years, promoting thinking skills has become an educational goal in the Chinese English Curriculum (MOE, 2010). In order to bridge the gap between the desired outcome and current practice, this study aims to investigate Chinese EFL teachers’ conceptions and teaching beliefs about thinking skills, and to explore the opportunities for, and obstacles to, developing students’ thinking skills in primary EFL classrooms. Four EFL primary school teachers, with more than three years of teaching experience each, participated in this case study. Semi-structured interviews and video recordings were used to collect the qualitative data. The interview data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Teaching practices were video recorded and examined through a think-led methodological framework developed in this study. The analysis revealed a new concept - “English thinking”, as subject-specific thinking. The findings also showed that teachers’ conceptions of thinking skills were fragmented and that they felt unprepared to teach thinking skills, although they all had a positive attitude towards integrating thinking skills into their teaching. The conflicting beliefs around promoting thinking skills were influenced by teachers' previous language learning experiences and by the challenges they come across. Opportunities for promoting thinking skills are identified from teacher-students interaction, including the use of teacher questioning and feedback, collaborative learning, increase of wait time, authentic topics, and teaching creatively. Teachers’ insufficient knowledge of thinking skills and other contextual factors such as the exam-oriented education system constrained the successful implementation of thinking skills in class. Pedagogical suggestions are put forward for policy makers, teacher educators, and teachers. Implications for future research indicate a need to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of thinking skills, and to develop a framework for the development of thinking skills in foreign language curricula.

The purpose of this study is to investigate some of the conditions for teaching based on questions asked by the students. Special attention is given to the possibilities inherent in students' questions and to the limitations in the classroom. Two classes in each of the grades 3, 6 and 9 in six different schools were visited and the teaching was tape-recorded and observed. Complete descriptions of the lessons could be written down on the basis of these recordings and the observer's notes. 1024 questions that students asked were extracted and analysed on the basis of these descriptions. It appeared that boys asked almost twice as many questions as girls in almost all categories of questions with the exception of questions that the teacher invited the students to ask, orally or in writing, at the beginning of a new content area. Girls also asked comparatively more questions that opened the perspective by putting things into a wider context. In the visited classes 55 students were randomly selected for interviews. In the interviews the students were told to ask questions about six different objects. Altogether the students produced 1345 questions, girls slightly more than boys. The questions had to be systematized in order to be described in a suitable way. From the systematizing activity both content-oriented themes and cognitive categories emerged. The content-oriented themes were different for different objects, but certain similarities were observed. The themes could be organized along two lines, one stretching from the history or origin through actual appearance to future use and the other from details through appearance to relations to the surroundings. The cognitive categories that were found remained the same for all objects. It is worth emphasizing that the identification and description of the themes and categories of the content of the pupils' questions, within as well as outside the classroom, are to be seen as a main result of this study. Both concerning content-oriented themes and cognitive categories it was found that boys, working class students and students in grade 3 favoured the different categories in much the same way. The same applies to girls, upper middle class students and students in grade 6. In interviews teachers claimed that students were allowed to influence the teaching content by asking questions. Questions were said to be welcomed, noticed and answered. At the same time some of the teachers expressed strong ideas about what the students should know and what was expected of them. The analysis of the teachers' handling of the students' questions clearly demonstrated how teachers used certain strategies in order to adjust the questions to suit their purpose of stressing or repeating things that they considered to be important. All in the interest of being efficient and not wasting time. / digitalisering@umu