Children's Talk in Classroom Discussions

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.