Conversation As a Model of Instructional Interaction - Eric

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layout-8/l-2003 1/7/04 12:29 PM Page 26Literacy Teaching and LearningVolume 8, Number 1The two students in the study were selected randomly from each teacher’scaseload of Reading Recovery students. They were selected for ReadingRecovery in the fall of their first-grade year because of their status as beingamong the population of students experiencing the most difficulty with learningto read and write.Data SourcesParticipant observation, field notes, audiotaping, and transcription served as theresearch tools. The researcher observed and audiotaped the teacher’s book introductionand the conversation between the teacher and the child during theintroduction. Field notes were used mainly as a tool for comparison since theaudiotapes and transcripts provided much more detailed information. As anobserver, the researcher sat behind the teacher and child in an attempt to be asunobtrusive as possible.Data AnalysisData that were gathered through participant observation, field notes, audiotapes,and transcripts were analyzed in two phases using discourse analysis. Thefirst phase included the conversation analysis of transcripts of the book introductionand the teacher-child verbal interaction during the introduction. Thesecond phase involved an analysis of intertextuality for one of the transcripts.During the first phase, the transcript for each teacher and her student wasanalyzed for characteristics typical of genuine conversation. Features such asmechanisms for turn taking, openings and closings, adjacency pairs, topic managementand topic shift, conversational repairs, and showing agreement anddisagreement were noted for each of the two transcripts. I explored additionalevidence of conversation by searching for instances of these three things: participantschecking for understanding, showing signs of cooperation, and buildingupon previous utterances.The second phase of the analysis considered the nature of intertexuality ofone of the transcripts. The goal of the analysis was to understand how two differentdiscourse genres appeared within one lesson excerpt and to consider howthat might have affected the instructional conversation. The transcript wasassessed for evidence of the traditional initiate, respond and evaluate (IRE)instructional genre (Cazden, 1988) and a less typical conversational instructionalmodel. Specific consideration was given to speakers’ rights, the teacher’srole, and the teacher’s speech style—elements suggested by Cazden as havingthe potential for significant positive cognitive and social impact on students.26
layout-8/l-2003 1/7/04 12:29 PM Page 27Conversation As a Model of Instructional InteractionVan BramerFINDINGSCharacteristics of Conversation in New Book OrientationsThe goal of the teacher’s book introduction is to make the book accessible tothe child. The new book is carefully selected based upon the child’s currentcapabilities so that there are just a few new things to learn, and it is carefullyintroduced to provide a framework of meaning to scaffold the successful reading.As stated by Clay and Cazden (1990), “What may seem like casual conversationalexchanges between teacher and pupil are based on deliberate teachingdecisions for a particular child” (p. 210).Therefore, the conversation during the book introduction is critical for thejoint construction of meaning that will allow the child to read the book successfully.Teacher modeling of how to actively construct meaning from text duringthe introduction will allow the child to take over this task while becoming aconstructive rather than passive learner.Appendix A explains the transcription conventions, and Appendixes B andC contain the transcripts that were analyzed. In the first set of findings, theanalysis refers to specific lines in each of the two transcripts for evidence or lackof evidence of the characteristics of conversation to be discussed. The second setof findings demonstrates the elements of intertextuality in terms of the traditionalinstructional discourse of IRE versus the less institutionalized discourseof everyday conversation.Conversation Analysis of Transcript 1As mentioned earlier, conversation analysis centers upon certain characteristicfeatures of conversation. Specific features are demonstrated from transcriptexcerpts below. Bracketed conversation indicates the teacher and child arespeaking at the same time, while = indicates contiguous utterances and ( ) indicatestalk that is unheard or is in doubt. The transcript is arranged to showwhen the overlapping occurred. The numbers correspond to the lines in thetranscript included in Appendix B.In Transcript 1, Lines 1–3, the teacher (T) has a clear opening which makesa connection with an earlier book read by the child (C) :1 T: Now, you remember we’ve been reading an ABC book, child’sname, about the zoo?=2 C: = Yeah.3 T: And all the animals in the zoo?This sample also shows an adjacency pair that could be considered27
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Conversation As a Model of Instructional Interaction - Eric

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