Investigating talk in challenging classrooms-boys enjoy the power of talk

This article attempts to develop the discussion on speaking and listening by investigating pupil perceptions of lessons involving small group talk. The sample of pupils came from a GCSE group in an all boys comprehensive school in an area of social disadvantage. The author used the pupil evaluations of oral work and some one‐to‐one interviews to draw together and analyse the pupils' thoughts and to discuss the teacher's role in planning for talk.     

Story Links: working with parents of pupils at risk of exclusion

This paper presents the results of the evaluation of the 20‐month Story Links project delivered by the University of Chichester in collaboration with the Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Story Links is a ten‐week intervention that involves pupils at risk of exclusion and with poor literacy, along with teachers and parents, in co‐creating stories that address the pupils' emotional and behavioural issues. These stories are then used to develop the pupils' reading skills. The theoretical background draws on Bowlby's concept of attachment and research that highlights the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement. Analysis of the co‐created stories showed a high correlation between the story metaphor and the child's presenting of emotional issues as identified by the parents and professionals. The findings also showed a significant increase in parental involvement in their child's learning and improvement in both pupils' behaviour and pupils' attitudes to learning.     

Educational dialogues and the fostering of pupils' independence: the practices of two teachers

If the purpose of an educational system is to guide pupils towards achieving independence, then certain conditions about the design and conduct of that system must be met. In this paper, those conditions are formulated from a socio‐cultural perspective on learning and development. This paper examines the extent to which those conditions were fulfilled by teachers judged ‘good’ by their pupils and by school management in a case‐study in two Montessori secondary schools. Because discourse is assumed to play a central role when pupils work on assignments with the teacher assisting them, dialogues occurring in various teaching‐learning situations were analysed. The types of language genre used by the teachers and pupils were found to be important characteristics of the ongoing dialogues. The main results were that ‘good’ teachers excel in the adoption of a personal approach to pupils, but they work much more intuitively than systematically or deliberately to stimulate pupils' development of higher mental functions.     

非英语专业英语课堂教师话语分析

英语课堂上的教师话语具有重要的作用,教师话语是教学的媒介,也是学生获得知识的重要来源,教师话语的质量和数量会影响甚至决定课堂教学的成败。英语课堂教师话语具有独特的作用、类型及特征,然而在我国英语课堂中,教师话语存在诸多问题。为了提高英语教师的话语质量,更加有效地开展课堂教学,对其作出相应的改进是非常重要的。     

Verbal energy: attending to poetry

This paper contends that the current English curriculum does not adequately acknowledge the potential of poetry to make meaning through sound. It reflects on how sound may embody or communicate meaning, and seeks enhanced conceptions of this aspect of poetry for pedagogy and the curriculum. It begins with the attention the mainstream press gave to Seamus Heaney's remarks about Eminem, and progresses to consider Heaney's notion of ‘verbal energy’ in the light of developing conceptions of multimodal ‘new literacies’. It suggests that new approaches could accord with an oral heritage approach to poetry while also acknowledging the influence of the communicational environments pupils experience beyond English classrooms. Throughout, the author draws on material that has informed his on‐going Teacher Training Agency‐sponsored project exploring the ways in which pupils approach poetry as sound, soon to be detailed on web resources for the English teaching community.     

Is Teacher Accountability Possible? The Case of Norwegian High School Science

What influence does the teacher exercise over their students' learning outcomes? This study investigates the impact of teacher quality on student learning outcomes in science halfway through the first year of high school. A multiple‐measurement model estimates the potential impact of teacher influence on learning outcomes for 1,060 secondary school students (16‐year‐olds), as well as the influence on student engagement, motivation, and self‐discipline. Teacher quality has a very weak effect on student learning outcomes. However, teacher quality seems to influence student motivation and self‐discipline to a significantly larger extent. Further, there is an indirect effect of teacher quality on learning outcomes in science via student engagement, motivation, and self‐discipline. Holding the science teacher accountable for pupils' learning outcomes is highly problematic.     

Case studies of teachers' understandings of the pedagogy of classroom talk: some critical moments explored

This case study research is informed by Vygotsky's view that talk is essential to organise our thoughts and extend our thinking and that, as Barnes suggested, the teacher needs to use the social situation effectively in the classroom to promote talk for learning. This article focuses on pedagogy and teachers' understandings of how talk works in the classroom, as I sought to illuminate teachers' intuitions and insights and their views of what they find challenging in organising classroom talk. Three case studies of ‘critical moments’ in a lesson suggest that teacher knowledge about talk is located in concrete practices. The three teachers viewed a recorded lesson and chose a moment they defined as ‘critical’ because the moment helped them to learn something about the way they use talk in the classroom. They then discussed this moment with me. These collaborative but critically evaluative processes are particularly useful for exploring and probing teachers' knowledge about talk for learning, an area of pedagogy that has proved so resistant to change over quite a long period. These three teachers suggest that such talk is becoming more marginal under the impact of performativity and the new cultural restorationist English curriculum.     

Interactive pedagogy and subsequent effects on learning in science classrooms

Observations of pupils‐in‐action whilst carrying out investigations indicated that there was plenty of social and cooperative exchange. There was, however, infrequent discussion regarding the planning of experimental approaches, predicting outcomes, consideration of the meaning of evidence and evaluation of task solutions. These observations informed the nature of interactive in‐service programmes developed in Keele University Education Department. Professional development was designed to purposely illustrate a wide repertoire of pedagogic strategies that focused around these issues to support cognitive development of pupils. The interactive nature of the in‐service training was shown to affect widespread ‘change in teachers’ practice. These teachers, involved in experiential in‐service, reflected that they intervened more regularly in children's learning. Their engagement in in‐service training as learners in problem‐solving situations resulted in conceptual shifts in understanding the learning processes their pedagogical transformations could affect. The impact of this changed praxis on pupils' learning in investigational situations was studied after in‐service intervention. These findings were compared with the performance of pupils of the same year group carrying out the same investigations before in‐service intervention. The more interactive nature of the teachers' changed pedagogy appeared to affect change in the way pupils themselves interacted and learnt from and with each other. Explicitly sharing subjective views through exploratory talk was found to be important to affect learning through social interaction.     

Learning ‘Peace Talk’ in Northern Ireland: Peer Mediation and Some Conceptual Issues Concerning Experiential Social Education

Experiential learning is often seen as a central component of social education and pastoral programmes such as peer mediation; but the precise nature of experience as an educational, social and pedagogic/cultural process in schools is complex. This paper uses the notion of experiential learning to explore the impact of a peer mediation programme in a transforming integrated school in Northern Ireland. The programme was intended to mainstream the involvement of pupils in the process of creating a more integrated school ethos and was implemented by youth workers working as members of the school staff.

The paper begins with a review of the theoretical basis of experience as educational. This is followed by an interpretative review of the results of a survey of pupils' attitudes to peer mediation and semi-structured interviews with pupils and school and project staff about their perception of the impact of the programme on ideas of social learning. One issue is the extent to which developing pupils' capacity for interactive dialogue can be seen as an experiential process, like learning a foreign language – hence ‘peace talk’. Another is the process by which the perception of peer mediation training as ‘experiential’ constituted an enabling ‘pedagogic discourse’ which legitimized the programme for teachers and affirmed its beneficial impact on pupils.     

Attitudes of Serbian and Slovenian student teachers towards causes of learning underachievement amongst Roma pupils

The task of initial teacher education is to prepare student teachers (ST) to accept responsibility for improving the education of all pupils, including Roma pupils. Thus, knowledge of ST's attitudes regarding such pupils at the onset of initial teacher education is a key for the creation of teacher education programmes that challenge implicit beliefs and biases. The main focus of this paper, therefore, is ST's perceptions concerning the causes of learning underachievement amongst Roma pupils and who is primarily responsible for these pupils' learning achievement. Research was conducted at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Teacher Training Faculty at the University of Belgrade in Serbia. The results suggest that ST do not consider themselves likely contributors to Roma pupils' learning achievement, which leads to an attitude of minimal responsibility. The majority of ST attribute Roma pupils' learning underachievement to their parents' disinterest in schooling, Roma pupils' lack of motivation, and their non-acceptance by peers. The implications of these findings for teacher education programmes are subsequently discussed.     

Defining and seeking to identify critical Internet literacy: a discourse analysis of fifth‐graders' Internet search and evaluation activity

Pedagogic focus is shifting increasingly from teaching students to search the Internet efficiently to encouraging critical Internet literacy, but this paper argues that these more complex and subtle skills are both challenging to teach and difficult to identify. The paper presents an analysis of the discourse of triads of fifth graders undertaking an Internet search task that emphasised decisions relating to the trustworthiness and relevance of websites. The analysis uses two lenses – the Vygotskian concept of obuchenie and Mercer's notion of ‘inter‐thinking’ – to help identify discourse markers that could support teachers in identifying and teaching critical Internet literacy. More work is needed, but it is argued that if our goal is to develop critical Internet literacy, the concept of obuchenie helps us to understand the socio‐cognitive prerequisites of group learning in Internet searching tasks, while the concept of ‘interthinking’ offers us a distribution mechanism that can be applied in helping students acquire the skills of independent and critical analysis as they carry out those tasks.     

Finding Voice: Debating in Secondary School English

ABSTRACT

This essay explores the place of debating, talk and group work in the Secondary English classroom. It discusses the ways in which pupils in one student teacher’s year 7 class thrive in the dialogic classroom against the backdrop of curricular and attitudinal change. It considers the importance of talk and debate amongst the ‘communities of practice’ in schools and universities in empowering teachers to challenge and navigate policies, theories and practices. In exploring the role of play, student experiences and different forms of talk, this essay highlights their vital importance in relation to teaching and learning in English and in the formation of English teachers.     

Mathematical power of special‐needs pupils: An ICT‐based dynamic assessment format to reveal weak pupils' learning potential1

This paper reports a study aimed at revealing special‐educational‐needs pupils' learning potential by means of an ICT‐based assessment including a dynamic visual tool that might help pupils when solving mathematics problems. The study focused on subtraction problems up to 100, which require ‘borrowing’. These problems, in which the value of the ones‐digit of the subtrahend is larger than the ones‐digit of the minuend, are known as a serious difficulty for weak pupils in mathematics. Seven of such problems from a standardised test were placed in the ICT environment. Data were collected from two test conditions: the standardised written test format and the ICT version of the test items including the tool that provided pupils with a set of virtual manipulatives. The 37 pupils involved in the study were 8–12 years old and from two special‐education schools in the Netherlands. Comparison of the performance scores in the two formats showed that an ICT‐based assessment format, including a dynamic visual tool, can reveal weak pupils' learning potential and strategy use. The study also pointed out that ‘partial‐tool use’, ie, not carrying out the complete subtraction operation with the tool, can provide sufficient support to find the correct answer.     

Socio-scientific issues and the quality of exploratory talk—what can be learned from schools involved in a ‘collapsed day’ project?

This project was designed to examine the feasibility of using a ‘collapsed day’ to explore socio-scientific issues relating to genes and genetic engineering in secondary schools by enabling science and humanities staff to collaborate. It was believed that science staff would have expertise in promoting understanding of genetics and humanities staff would have expertise in managing the ethical debates that emerged. The study took place in eight secondary schools with pupils aged 14–16. A surprising result of the project was the lack of high quality ‘public discourse’ or ‘exploratory talk’ around the ethical dilemmas raised by the topic. An examination of the data suggests that clarity about the nature of the day, teacher expertise in motivating and managing discussion, and pupil experience of discussion might be related to the level of discourse seen.     

中职英语优质课教师话语的实证研究

教师话语贯穿于课堂教学的整个过程,不仅是教师完成教学计划的辅助工具,更是课堂语言输入的主要来源,在教师进行课堂教学及学生完成语言习得的过程中具有至关重要的作用。因此,开展教师话语研究具有重要的指导意义及实践价值。通过对上海市中等职业学校教师教学法改革交流评优活动参赛课(公共英语组)中评选出的优秀获奖课和未获奖课之间的教师话语进行对比分析,研究这两类课在教师话语方面的差异,从而揭示中职英语优质课教师话语的使用特点,并希望以此促使中职英语教师更多的关注并优化英语课堂上的教师话语,提高课堂教学质量。     

‘I – from dreams to reality’: A Case Study of Developing Youngsters’ Self‐Efficacy and Social Skills through an Arts Educational Project in Schools

This is a case study of a one‐year arts educational project ‘I – from dreams to reality’ in which artists worked at school with teachers and learning at the school was planned through arts‐based, co‐operative teamwork during one extra school year of 10th grade students in Finnish basic education. The theme of the year was ‘I’, and so the project was designed to highlight everyone's own way of thinking and expressing art. The research task was to determine whether long‐term holistic arts pedagogy and artist co‐operation at school have any significant connection to students’ self‐efficacy and social skills. Data has been collected through students’ self‐evaluations before and after the school year. Altogether 40 students from 10th grade participated in this case study. Half of the pupils participated in an arts educational project called ‘I – from dreams to reality’ and half formed the control group. Artists worked with the test group weekly during a period of one school year (altogether nine months). Students’ self‐evaluations concerning their self‐efficacy and social behaviour were collected by e‐questionnaire. The measures used were Likert‐based evaluation scores of pupils’ self‐assessment of their self‐efficacy and social behaviour in everyday situations at school. According to the results, artist–teacher co‐operation and learning through the arts can be worthwhile experiences to develop students’ self‐efficacy and social skills.     

An Analysis of Classroom Discourse in Primary English Classroom

An English classroom is an important site that teachers set teaching tasks to let students accept the integrated ability of using lan guage.Teacher talk plays an important role in the organization of discourse and L2 acquisition.It mainly talks about the teachers how to transfer information to the students in English classes.     

The effect of stimulating immigrant and national pupils’ helping behaviour during cooperative learning in classrooms on their maths‐related talk

This study examined whether stimulation of immigrant and national pupils’ use of high‐quality helping behaviour (experimental condition) during cooperative learning (CL) in classrooms boosts their maths‐related talk more than in an educational situation in which such stimulation is largely absent (control condition). A total of 59 elementary‐age pupils enrolled in a CL maths curriculum of 11 lessons. They were video taped during two lessons while working together on maths assignments to assess their maths‐related talk. We found that the quality of maths‐related talk was higher in the experimental condition. Furthermore, immigrant pupils’ used less maths‐related talk than the national pupils. Implications are discussed.