Talking In Class: Remembering What Is Important About Classroom Talk

Abstract

The writers describe how apparently ordinary decisions about what to say when talking with children can have substantial effects on their learning and development. The language we use with children influences, among other things, who they think they are, what they think they're doing, the relationships they have with others, the strategic information available to them in the classroom, and the possibilities available to them for thinking about literacy and their own lives. The writers offer some principles for the kind of talk that helps build learning communities, engagement, a sense of agency, social relations, self‐regulation and even moral development.

Elaborating a framework for communicating assessment aims in higher education

“…Assessment through oral language was the next most common mode in law and English, while only 7% of assessments in education were assessed through oral communication. This represents an area for attention for education lecturers at this university, given that most of learning in schools occurs through verbal communication between teachers and students (Rahman 2010;Johnston, Ivey, and Faulkner 2011). Despite this, the education degree's assessment of the visual mode in 24% of tasks reflects a recognition of the role played by visual information in learning in educational settings.…”

“Slow Down, You Move Too Fast”: Literature Circles as Reflective Practice

“…Taken together (Johnston 2012;Johnston, Ivey, andFaulkner 2011/2012;Sanacore 2012), these open-type questions and comments stimulate personal responses with no single answer, thereby promoting freedom of inquiry and encouraging greater participation in literature circles, as well as in whole class discussions and individual conferences. Additionally, these and similar questions and comments serve as inclusive scaffolds for transitioning the reflective process of thinking deeply and critically about a text's meaning.…”

“…Teachers can help students fulfill this positive outcome by demonstrating and supporting open-ended questions, with the intent of motivating students to emulate these questions in their subsequent readings and discussions of a text. Open-ended questions that elicit personal connections to a text can prompt "students to rehearse, collaboratively and in slow motion, decision-making processes they themselves might face" (Johnston, Ivey, andFaulkner 2011/2012, 233). Creating this base for discussion is a serious responsibility of both the classroom and special educator because it has potential for using the situational context of a book to develop students' social imagination, which, in turn, can influence their self-regulation, social relationships, and moral development (Johnston 2012).…”

Enjoy and Interpret Picture Books in a Child‐Centered Way

“…In addition, these activities facilitate teachers’ work because children's creative products help teachers to plan more stimulating literature discussions. They also show teachers how children have understood the story (Rönkkö & Aerila, ; see, e.g., Johnston, Ivey, & Faulkner, ).…”