Openingssequenties Van Lesbeginnen

Abstract

An attempt is made to analyse some aspects of the sequencing structure in the openings of lessons. It is shown that there are different levels of sequencing for different sets of participants. On a base-line two sequential posi-tions are realized within the participant set "whole class". Posi-tion one is occupied by the teacher and contains at least an utterance or nonverbal signal with a directive function. Position two is the nonverbal reaction of the pupils to this directive. It can have situation-sensitive expansions through the embedding of sequences which are constrained on two levels: Topically, the embedded sequences handle more detailed aspects of the directive in position one; interactionally, they apply to a smaller set of participants. The base-line positions together with the embedded sequences form a kind of directive clusters. They are terminated with the comple-tion of position two, which is realized by the devices the teacher uses in initiating a next position for the participant set "whole class". Such verbal and nonverbal devices also constitute the respective participant sets and the shifts between them. Especially on boundaries as the transition from one directive cluster to the following the devices are typically ordered in a tripartite structure. It is shown that the pupils orient themselves to this order in coordinating their actions with those of the teacher. Some discussion is offered to the tasks different directive clusters have. One type organizes an additive kind of availability that is connected with the specific lesson. It is optionably insertable and located after a directive position of the other kind. This latter one organizes the discourse availability of the pupils. It is obligatory, though reducable to routinized nonverbal signals. Some properties of the sequential structure are also discussed. The directive clusters as a whole have the property of repeatabi-lity, contrary to the summons/answer-pair in conversational openings. The repetitions give the openings an intervalle charac-ter, alternating verbal and nonverbal positions and chaining clusters together. On the other hand the directive clusters as a whole are nonter-minal; the type of nonterminality differs from that of the summons/ answer-pair in conversational openings. Throughout the paper constrastive comparisons are made with Schegloff's analysis of sequencing in the openings of telephone calls. The analysis is based on 21 video-taped openings of lessons (recorded in Germany (FRG)).