Strategies to regulate content development and interactivity in the classroom

The teaching-learning process is an interactive process controlled by a series of regulatory mechanisms. This article reports on a study of teacher regulation of classroom activity and teacher-student behavior. The analysis of this behavior can provide a better understanding of what happens during a class session, the context in which students construct meaning and progressively acquire greater control of their own learning process. The strategies employed by the teacher to regulate, the teaching-learning can be classified in two categories: those directed primarily towards regulating the social structure of participation and those directed primarily towards regulating content development and the learning task. This article identifies and analyzes instances of the second kind of strategy, though both kinds are often simultaneous, inter-related and mutually supportive. The investigation reported here was based on the observation, recording and analysis of teacher-student interaction in Social Studies classes in a secondary school in Spain.