Children's Talk in Classroom Discussions

TLDR

The study examines how children and teachers use talk in classroom discussions to construct knowledge. The authors recorded and analyzed eleven classroom discussions involving twelve 5‑year‑old children across two contexts and subjects, using a sequential‑turn framework to categorize teacher and child talk. During agreement phases, children’s and teachers’ topical talk influence each other, with children extending their talk after teacher repetitions or peer continuations; in disagreement phases, peer discourse is relatively independent of the teacher, yet children’s talk aligns more closely with the teacher’s aims and they justify opposition with explanations of prior activity.

Abstract

Abstract This article describes children's and teacher's talk in classroom discussion that is a kind of speech event aimed at knowledge construction. Eleven discussions attended by twelve 5-year-old children in two different social contexts and on two different subjects were recorded and analyzed. The discussions were preceded by shared activity and guided by the children's teacher. Children's talk and teacher's talk are described through categories based on the sequential function of turns at talk. Sequences of two turns are identified and discussed. Results suggest that, in the agreement phases of discussion, children's topical talk and teacher's topical talk are reciprocally affected. In particular, children's extended talk is more likely to occur when preceded by teacher's repetitions and rephrasings or by peer continuations. In the disagreement phases, peer discourse is to some extent more independent of teacher's talk, and topical talk is made up of claims and explanations that rely on the discourse structure provided by dispute. In the disagreement phases of discussion, children's talk is closer to the teacher's aims. In justifying their own opposition, children produce explanations of the activity that preceded discussion.