The sequential and prosodic co-construction of a ‘quiz game’ activity in classroom talk

Abstract

This paper investigates how an activity type called “quiz game”, borrowed from one institution (the television game show) is co-constructed in another institutional setting (the classroom) through practices of talk in interaction embodied in systematic prosodic practices. Following research which advocates the analysis of prosody from the perspectives of both production and perception [ ‘t Hart et al., 1990] this paper uses techniques from conversation analysis to uncover participants’ orientation to the sequence of talk, by focusing on how prosody is used systematically as a contextualization cue in the co-construction of the ‘quiz game’ activity type. Acoustical analysis is also undertaken both to insure analytic reliability and for illustrative purposes in the presentation. The sequence of turns at talk is examined in ‘quiz game’ activities from three class periods in a 9th grade physical science classroom. Findings show systematic uses of pitch level and contour in the triadic dialogue (‘IRF’ exchanges; Sinclair and Coulthard), which distinguish the ‘quiz game’ activities from other classroom pedagogical tasks. A second finding indicates that the action projection of the third part in this three-part sequence in ‘quiz game’ activities differs from the third slot in other instructional talk.