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Introduction

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

This unit is from our archive and it is an adapted extract from Language and literacy in a changing world (E844) which is no longer in presentation. If you wish to study formally at The Open University, you may wish to explore the courses we offer in this curriculum area.

This unit draws attention to the value of a sociocultural understanding of spoken language in the processes of teaching and learning. It focuses upon how language can be used for persuasion, control and argument, and how dialogue can act as an aid to development. Along with some background reading and activities this unit offers opportunities for the evaluation of some selected classroom talk.

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Learning outcomes

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

After studying this unit you will have:

gained an understanding of ways that spoken language is used to create joint knowledge and understanding, and to pursue teaching and learning;
considered the educational implications of some recent research on teaching and learning in face-to-face interactions;
tried out some approaches to analysing the spoken language of teaching and learning.

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1.1 Persuasion, control and argument

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

The Reading below contains examples of interaction that you may or may not be familiar with. The book that it comes from is concerned with how people use language in many kinds of situations to solve problems and get things done. Before examining ways in which teachers can help students develop their understanding and use of spoken language, it may be useful to step outside the classroom and consider some of the ways that language is used in everyday life as a means for ‘getting things done’.

In order to fully complete this unit you need to obtain Words and Minds by Neil Mercer (ISBN: 0-415-22476-4). If you would like to purchase an eBook copy please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. Customers using the coupon code MercerOU will receive a 30% discount on the published price.

Reading

1 hour 0 minutes

Now read Chapter 4, ‘Persuasion, control and argument’, from Words and Minds by Neil Mercer.

As you do, pay special attention to:

the concept of ‘rhetoric’, as it is used in the chapter;
the use of lists, contrasts and metaphors as rhetorical strategies;
how rhetorical techniques can be used in exerting power and control;
the three types of talk: disputational, cumulative and exploratory.

A widely accepted aim of education is to help students become better at using language. This is not only the case in modern language classrooms, or in those concerned with the English curriculum. Studying science, mathematics and other subjects also involves becoming able in using language as a tool for constructing and sharing knowledge. Teachers are expected to help their students develop ways of talking, writing and thinking which will enable them to travel on wider intellectual journeys, understanding and being understood by people in wider domains that those of their home community. While the strongest emphasis in mother tongue language education has always been on literacy, in recent years in many countries there has been an increasing acknowledgement in educational policy and curriculum guidance of the importance of children becoming effective users of spoken language. For example, within the National Curriculum for schools in England and Wales, the guidance for teaching English to Year 7 children (aged 11–12) includes the following objectives for group discussion and interaction.

Pupils should be taught to:

10	identify and report the main points emerging from discussion, e.g. to agree a course of action including responsibilities and deadlines;
11	adopt a range of roles in discussion, including acting as spokesperson, and contribute in different ways such as promoting, opposing, exploring and questioning;
12	use exploratory, hypothetical and speculative talk as a way of researching ideas and expanding thinking;
13	work together logically and methodically to solve problems, make deductions, share, test and evaluate ideas;
14	acknowledge other people's views, justifying or modifying their own views in the light of what others say;

(DfEE, 2001, p. 25)

However, formulating a set of teaching objectives does not address the question of how they can best be achieved. For several years, some educational researchers (mainly in the UK) have used the findings of observational studies to suggest that students need more explicit guidance than they normally get on how to talk and work together effectively in groups (e.g. Barnes and Todd, 1995; Bennett and Cass, 1989; Bennett and Dunne, 1992). Without explicit guidance, it is suggested, group-based activity (which is a common feature of education in some countries such as the UK), may be of little educational value. Research on language use in homes and communities, such as that of Shirley Brice Heath (1983) and Gordon Wells (1992), has shown that ways of using language to make joint sense of experience vary between cultures and communities, and so children from different backgrounds cannot be assumed to come to school with similar language repertoires. Yet it seems commonly to be assumed by teachers of students of all ages, right through to higher education, that when students are asked to go and discuss a topic together, or to work together to solve a problem, they will have the necessary strategies for doing so (or at least will know to use those they have in the most effective ways). Chapter 6 of Words and Minds describes some research which has addressed this issue.

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1.2 Development through dialogue

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

Reading

1 hour 0 minutes

Now read Chapter 6, ‘Development through dialogue’, of the set book Words and Minds. As you read, pay special attention to:

the sociocultural concept of ‘guided participation’;
the concept of ‘exploratory talk’;
the ways that teacher-led and group-based activity were combined in the intervention study described.

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2.1 Evaluating discussion

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

The discussion of talk amongst children in Chapter 6 of Words and Minds is concerned with the adequacy of that talk for ‘getting things done’. The next activity will allow you to attempt a reduced version of a similar evaluation. It will also allow you to compare your evaluation with that provided by one of the unit team (in comments following each example). And, finally, it may also allow you to consider the extent to which you feel such evaluations are valid and useful.

Activity 3: Evaluating discussions (1)

(allow up to 2 hours)

Examine the following two sequences, which are extracts from classroom discussions involving two sets of children (all aged 12–13). In each of the sequences, the children have been asked to try to complete a specific task together (as is explained before each sequence). When reading each sequence, consider the following questions:

How ‘on task’ does the talk seem to be?
How well does the discussion operate as a forum for sharing relevant information, evaluating ideas and reaching joint decisions?
Does everyone in the group participate to a similar extent? If not, why do you think this is so? Does unequal participation matter?

Compare your own answers to these questions with the evaluative comments below.

Sequence 1

This sequence comes from the discussion of a group of four pupils (two girls and two boys) about the causes of vandalism. Preparation for this included reading an interview with the leader of a gang (called Ron) who regularly engaged in such behaviour; and the children were prompted by the question: ‘What do you think this interview tells you about the cause of vandalism?’

At the point the extract begins, Robert has just rejected the idea that young people engage in vandalism because they ‘aren't given enough things to do’.

Robert: Oh I, I don't, I, I think it's partly that, but if you get some people that, really want to be vandals, really want to smash things up just for't pleasure of it, and you get some that an't owt better to do so they just go around smashing things up. It's a bit daft really, in't it …?
Christine: Say summat, Margaret (whispered)
Margaret: You an't said owt yet (whispered)
Christine: I've said ‘Yeah’, ‘Yeah’ (whispered)
Robert: Do you think Ron's any good?
Christine: No.
Margaret: Do you think Ron's what? (said aggressively)
Christine: He dun't give, he dun't give good answers.
Robert: No, he just said that he wanted to be ‘somebody’. He could have been somebody if he worked hard couldn't he, instead of …
Margaret: (interrupting) Yeah, but not like that.
Robert: Instead of, he always wanted to make people be frightened of him.
(Source: Barnes and Todd, 1995, pp. 52–3)

Answer

The discussion in Sequence 1 does not seem to make much progress, nor to show much commitment on the part of the participants. This is despite the fact that the topic of vandalism is one on which most teenagers could be expected to have some opinion. While Robert is clearly on task, the two other members of the group who contribute, Margaret and Christine, seem more concerned with disputing their partners’ claims than with developing the group's understanding of vandalism. The talk has some of the characteristics which, in Chapter 4 of Words and Minds, are associated with ‘disputational’ talk.

As a process for sharing ideas, evaluating them and reaching some joint conclusion, the discussion does not seem to be functioning well. The participants do not make similar levels of contribution to the discussion. Robert tries to get the discussion going, but the girls seem self-conscious (perhaps not enjoying being recorded) and uncooperative in the face of his efforts. The fourth member of the group does not join in at all. Robert's contributions therefore make up most of the talk, but this seems due to the reluctance of his partners rather than any social dominance on his part. As a result, the only ideas which are put into the public domain are his, and little in the way of collective thinking is apparent. Of course, this is only part of a longer discussion. If we were the researchers involved, we would no doubt wish to look at a much longer sample of talk before making an evaluation.

(Note: these comments are based partly on those of Barnes and Todd, 1995, the researchers who recorded this discussion.)

Sequence 2

In this sequence the two twevle-year-old girls who speak are members of a group who have been asked to talk together to choose a suitable set of objects for storing in a ‘time capsule’.

Pupil A: We've got to start selecting which ones we want now, so let's have yours.
Pupil B: A Mars bar definitely … clothes … this is the sixth one now that we're going to have.
Pupil A: Right, six … now we'll all keep the same so we send them clothes … number one.
Pupil B: I'm only going to send them some chocolate, cos they know …
Pupil A: What?
Pupil B: They might not have things like that.
Pupil A: Yeah, all right then … number two.
Pupil B: Number two … chocolate.
Pupil A: Right, just a minute.
Pupil B: Photos is a good idea.
Pupil B: Yeah, cos then they know what you look like.
Pupil B: Yeah.
Pupil A: Right, let's have a look at yours.
(Source: Phillips, 1992, p. 153)

Answer

The talk in this discussion is ‘on task’, and the discussion seems to function quite well as a means for sharing relevant ideas. Both children contribute about equally to the discussion. However, there is no critical consideration of the suitability of anyone's proposals. The process is not really one of collective reasoning but rather simply one of accumulating items from individuals to make up a list. In the terms used in Chapter 4 of Words and Minds, the talk is ‘cumulative’ rather than ‘exploratory’.

The educational researcher who recorded this discussion made the following comments about it:

The pupils' reason for doing the task was, in their own words, ‘because we were asked to discuss it’. It had no obvious purpose beyond complying with that instruction to ‘discuss’ and, consequently, nothing much was at stake. They were prepared to leave explanations of their choices implicit because they saw the activity as one requiring nothing more than the completion of an apparently arbitrary list. Indeed, why justify the choice of items to put in a time capsule, when more rapid completion of the list can be achieved by a kind of ‘bartering’ – one of mine for one of yours? And why bother to ask for a ‘better’ reason in response to a ‘poor’ one when in the end the case being put is of no real significance to you?
It is significant that the teacher who set the task intended the group of pupils to persuade each other ‘properly’ of the value of the particular items they suggested for inclusion. She hoped individuals would give well-reasoned justifications for their proposals, and wanted the group to explore the validity of those justifications. She was disappointed in the quality of the discussion.
(Phillips, 1992, p. 153)

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2.2 Evaluating discussion (continued)

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

Activity 4: Evaluating discussions (2)

5 hours 0 minutes

The quality of discussion amongst students can be evaluated by carrying out the following activity.

Tape record two short (5 minute) group discussion activities, involving two or three students and based on a particular topic, in your own classroom or that of a teacher you know.
Transcribe one or two short sections so that you can examine the talk more carefully, using the transcription key provided below.
Drawing on your reading in the module so far, make your own evaluation of the discussions in terms of:
- (a) what they tell you about the students’ capabilities for using language for sharing and constructing knowledge together;
- (b) the apparent value of the discussion for advancing the students’ understanding of the relevant topic.

Note: There are many ways of transcribing spoken language. For this activity we suggest you use the transcription key provided below.

Transcription key

T = Teacher

S1 = Student 1

S2 = Student 2

(S3 = Student 3)

(.) = Brief pause

(…) = Long pause

word stressed = in bold

?,.! = use conventions of punctuation to indicate sense of the spoken words (i.e. use ? to indicate question)

[ = overlapping speech or interruptions.

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Next steps

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

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References

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

Barnes, D. and Todd, F. (1995) Communication and Learning Revisited, Portsmouth, N. H., Heinemann.

Bennett, N. and Cass, A. (1989) ‘The effects of group composition on group interactive processes and pupil understanding’, British Educational Research Journal, 15, pp. 119–32.

Bennett, N. and Dunne, E. (1992) Managing Classroom Groups, London, Simon and Schuster.

DfEE (Department for Education and Employment)(2001) Key Stage 3 National Strategy: framework for teaching English: Years 7, 8 and 9, London, Department for Education and Employment.

Heath, S. B. (1983) Ways with Words: language, life and work in communities and classrooms, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Mercer, N. (1995) The Guided Construction of Knowledge: talk amongst teachers and learners, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters.

Phillips,T. (1992) ‘Why?: the neglected question’ in Norman, K. (ed.) Thinking Voices: the work of the National Oracy Project, London, Hodder and Stoughton.

Wells,G. (1992) The Meaning Makers: children learning language and using language to learn, London, Hodder and Stoughton.

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Acknowledgements

The Open University — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:19:32 GMT

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