Multilayered Analysis of Teacher-Student Interactions: Concepts and Perspectives Guiding Video Analysis with Tattoo, the Analytic Transcription Tool

Abstract

This article describes the development of a video analysis software tool designed to make explicit and open the process of systematic analysis of video material on teaching–learning interactions. The need of an efficient and transparent way of transcribing and analysing video materials was brought forth in a sequence of studies of interaction in music education in Sweden, where spoken language, body language, gaze, music, and the use of artefacts were studied as multimodal semiotic resources. The article focuses on decision making in building a coherent research design and analytic tool, which reflects a progress from a close-up description of teachers' and students' interaction to a systematic analysis of the patterns of interaction and learning opportunities. The theories and perspectives are chosen in order to give a broad understanding of experience and actions in teaching and learning at different levels of scale.