Collaborative Talk Research Articles

Grammatical and rhetorical reasoning in upper secondary students’ collaborative talk about a literary text

This paper explores different talk types and characteristics of grammatical and rhetorical reflections in L1 students’ collaborative talk about a literary text (n = 12, aged 15–17). The data is drawn from an intervention of contextualized grammar teaching in Swedish upper secondary school. To illuminate different talk types and the characteristics of the grammatical and rhetorical reflections, a deductive and inductive analysis in NVivo was carried out. The findings partly confirm previous results concerning rules of thumb and grammatical misconceptions. The current study also indicates that there is a relationship between talk types and prompted questions, and the quality of grammatical and rhetorical reasoning. When students are trying to locate a grammatical concept, the talk type is mainly characterized as cumulative and disputational, whereas linking grammar and rhetoric is exploratory. This paper discusses explanations for these relationships along with strategies for teachers when facilitating and supporting the development of students’ metalinguistic understanding.

L2 grammar‐for‐interaction: Functions of “and”‐prefaced turns in L2 students’ collaborative talk

AbstractThis article examines how second language (L2) interactional competence is manifested in students’ use of “and”‐prefaced turns when doing meaning‐focused oral tasks in pairs and small groups. Drawing on video recordings from English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language upper‐secondary classes recorded in Czechia and Finland, 86 sequences involving “and”‐prefaced turns were scrutinized using multimodal conversation analysis, focusing on language, gaze, and material resources. The findings suggest that by producing “and”‐prefaced turns, students orient to task progression. These turns have two functions: task managerial and contribution to the emerging task answer. By using task‐managerial “and”‐prefaced turns, the current speaker invites another student to participate, while in “and”‐prefaced contributions to the task answer, a participant adds to, generalizes, or modifies the previous task answer. The analysis shows that students mobilized their L2 interactional competence in producing “and”‐prefaced turns in close coordination with embodied resources and with respect to the spatio‐material surroundings and the nature of the task. These findings contribute to the multimodal reconceptualization of the grammar–body interface and research on turn‐initial particles within L2 interactional competence.

No player left behind: exploring the use of collaborative talk in a playfixing activity

ABSTRACT In this study, we describe an activity in which participants play and fix broken games – tabletop games with ambiguous rules or mechanics – through the use of collaborative talk (CT). The playfixing activity provides a useful context for examining how participants think together and collectively build understanding through redesigning an incomplete game. We qualitatively analysed a small group of participants’ talk as they playfixed a broken game, Pollutaplop. We examined their utterances through a framework of CT strands that included participating, understanding, and managing. Findings suggest the majority (54%) of participants’ talk was collaboratively oriented and served mostly to manage game play and redesign. Moreover, participants used different personal pronouns to shift perspectives in collectively understanding the task. This study contributes to the design of future learning experiences that invite the use of CT and foster the development of abilities to co-design on complex tasks.

Analyzing Collaborative Talk in a Student Managed Task-based Fine Art Activity

Objectives This is a qualitative study of the fine art group activity in the eyes of sociolinguistics. Using conversation analysis, this study aims to scrutinize how the actual collaborative talk dynamics take place in a student managed task-based art activity.
 Methods In order to have a close look at the collaborative talk, we focused directly on face-to-face talk-in-interaction of four students’ during their two hour group activity in a college art class, ‘understanding of contemporary art’. The student managed task-based group activity was a part of liberal arts course especially in the 11th week of spring semester, 2022 at a university in Seoul, Korea. The data was collected via video recording of the two hour group discussion, and the recorded talk was all transcribed for conversation analysis which is the main tool of analyzing students’ talk.
 Results The procedure of students task-based activity included the following four steps: (1) sharing and choosing an agreed task topic to work on, (2) cooperative opinion sharing for making the art work, such as materials and method (3) actual making and art work completion, (4) wrapping up and cleaning. Conversation analysis is a study of turn-taking organization of talk-in-interaction to find how the participants manage and display intersubjectivity in talk. In the students’ talk occurred in the process of the student managed group task, we found several turn-taking types resulting reciprocal support in order to develop the task product: (1) topic change, (2) other-initiated second turn repair, (3) reactive tokens, and (4) other question-answer sequences with mutually supporting verbal and nonverbal moves.
 Conclusions This study is quite valuable in terms that it addressed the naturally occuring process of turn-taking sequences by analyzing students’ talk-in-interaction in depth when the students were engaged in collaborative task-based activity to complete an act work. As noted in the result, most of the various types of turn-taking lead mutual support and agreement of each other’s thought in order to produce the collaborative task completion rather than aggressive debate and disagreement.

Effective Classroom Management in English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Classroom management is an essential element of the teaching and learning process which determines the quality of instruction. This research aims to investigate the elements of classroom management which can be effectively applied in EFL classrooms. This study is a review research study, where the data were collected from 43 previously published materials, restricted to books, dissertations, and articles published in academic journal. The data were analysed using data condensation, data display and conclusion drawing. The results of this study show that there are three elements of classroom management, i.e. seating arrangements, engagement, and participation. The seating arrangement has three effective components including u-shaped, sitting in a group, and orderly row. Further, student engagement consists of cognitive, behavioural, academic, emotional, social, intellectual, physiological, affective and relational engagement approaches. Meanwhile, participation includes classroom talk, teacher talk, collaborative talk, exploratory talk, disputational talk, and learner-managed talk. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers utilize effective classroom management components based on the results of this study to improve the quality of instruction.

Collaborative Digital Problem‐Solving: Power, Relationships, and Participation

AbstractThe study examines the collaborative nature of problem solving as dyads and triads of adults were grouped to solve digital problems using online resources. Digital problem solving involves the nimble use of skills, strategies, and mindsets to navigate online in everyday contexts using novel resources, tools, and interfaces, in efficient and flexible ways, to accomplish personal and professional goals. Findings address the nature of collaborative talk during digital problem solving through three interrelated categories of themes gleaned from discourse analysis: (a) power, (b) relationships, and (c) participation. These themes offer a nuanced understanding of collaborative interactions during digital problem solving. Implications from this research suggest ways to design collaborative activities and support dialogic interaction, whether among adolescents or adults, during online learning, in formal education settings or informally in other settings where collaboration occurs.

Collaborative talk in healthcare interactions between students and people with aphasia.

People with language impairments are at a higher risk of receiving inappropriate or inadequate healthcare, often stemming from ineffective exchanges between patients and healthcare professionals. This study explores a possible factor in such exchanges: the use of collaborative forms of talk in interaction with people with aphasia. To investigate if and how collaborative forms of talk are used as a conversational resource in healthcare interactions by students and their effects on the acquisition of information from the patient. The transcripts of two simulated healthcare interactions between a man with aphasia and two students (i.e., a nursing student and a speech-language pathology student) were analysed through conversation analysis. The analysis aimed to locate instances of collaborative forms of talk, which included joint productions, acknowledgement tokens, reframing of questions, gesture, laughter and engagement with alternative communication methods. The analysis also tracked the progressivity of the interactions and information checking. The students engaged in a range of collaborative forms of talk, which aided the person with aphasia to participate more fully in conversation. However, some issues arose with progressivity, topic continuity and checking for understanding when turns were left incomplete, no candidate understandings were provided or no repair or joint production sequences were initiated. These occurrences may increase the possibility of misunderstandings or loss of important information. Communication training should include conversational strategies that help to promote collaboration, focusing on enhancing the ability to perceive, and attend to collaboration requests. Training also should help trainees to find ways to frequently check understanding. What is already known on the subject People with language impairments, including those with aphasia, face important challenges when communicating with healthcare professionals and are often at risk of receiving inadequate care as a consequence. While it is known that some of the causes of such communicative issues may be tied to limited time availability on the part of healthcare professionals, the exclusion of spouses from interactions, and lack of communication training, it remains unclear whether these issues influence the use of collaborative forms of talk on the part of providers in interaction with people with aphasia. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Healthcare students seemed to be able to engage in a variety of collaborative forms of talk even without formal communication training. However, some issues arose with progressivity, topic continuity and checking for understanding when turns were left incomplete, no candidate understandings were provided, or no repair or joint production sequences were initiated. These occurrences may increase the possibility of misunderstandings or loss of important information in these crucial interactions. Influencing factors may include the nature of institutional interactions, speaker unfamiliarity, concerns about speaking for patients and lack of training. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Potential clinical implications for communication training include the need to implement modules or activities which increase trainees' ability to perceive and attend to collaboration requests (i.e., pauses, gestures, gaze, etc.) and to frequently check understanding.

Plan‐Draw‐Evaluate (PDE) pattern in students' collaborative drawing: Interaction between visual and verbal modes of representation

AbstractThe use of group drawing to promote student‐generated representation is a common instructional strategy as it combines the benefits of using visual representation and collaborative talk. Although the affordances of group drawing have increasingly been emphasized in science education, few studies have investigated how drawing as a visual mode interacts with group discourse as a verbal mode as well as how that interaction facilitates the development of students' collective ideas. Informed by theories in classroom discourse and multimodality, this paper examines the interaction process between a verbal and visual mode of representation as groups of students engaged in collaborative drawing during guided science inquiry lessons. On the basis of the analysis of data from a science class that adopted group drawing, we found and documented a recurring pattern, Plan‐Draw‐Evaluate or PDE pattern, in how the interaction between the verbal and visual modes occurred during collaborative drawing. This PDE pattern consisted of a triad of moves that alternate between the two modes and fulfilled various discursive purposes, such as suggesting, requesting, recording, visualizing, elaborating, agreeing, and rejecting. The PDE pattern provided a basic social structure that facilitated the collaboration and progression of students' ideas. With illustrations of PDE patterns and its variations, we argue that the PDE pattern provides an insight into the dynamic organization of interactions involved in group drawing that takes into consideration the multimodal affordances of verbal and visual modes of representation and the progression of ideas developed through collaborative discourse.

Collaborative Inquiry or Teacher Talk? Parent Guidance during a Science-Related Activity in Mexican-Heritage Families from Two Schooling Groups

ABSTRACT Parents who vary in their experience with formal schooling are likely to use different types of informal guidance with their children. However, rather than assuming a deficit approach we need evidence regarding how parents with limited schooling support their children’s learning. Forty U.S. families of Mexican-heritage, from two levels of schooling experience, engaged with their children in a sink-or-float activity. Parents’ questions and evaluations and children’s decision-making and questions were observed and coded. Parents with higher schooling asked more questions and made more evaluative comments about their children’s performance, whereas parents with basic schooling tended to evaluate their own performance more often. Parents made more decisions about items overall; however, children whose parents had basic schooling made more decisions and asked more conceptual questions than those with higher schooling parents. Children of higher schooling parents asked more procedural questions. These findings suggest that parents with basic schooling engaged with their children as collaborators, using open-ended inquiry. Conversely, parents with more schooling experience took an instructor-like role, which may have limited children’s opportunities to engage in critical thinking.

Two-Computer Pair Programming: Exploring a Feedback Intervention to improve Collaborative Talk in Elementary Students

ABSTRACT Background and Context Researchers and practitioners have begun to incorporate collaboration in programming because of its reported instructional and professional benefits. However, younger students need guidance on how to collaborate in environments that require substantial interpersonal interaction and negotiation. Previous research indicates that feedback fosters students’ productive collaboration. Objective This study employs an intervention to explore the role instructor-directed feedback plays on elementary students’ dyadic collaboration during 2-computer pair programming. Method We used a multi-study design, collecting video data on students’ dyadic collaboration. Study 1 qualitatively explored dyadic collaboration by coding video transcripts of four dyads which guided the design of Study 2 that examined conversation of six dyads using MANOVA and non-parametric tests. Findings Result from Study 2 showed that students receiving feedback used productive conversation categories significantly higher than the control condition in the sample group considered. Results are discussed in terms of group differences in specific conversation categories. Implications Our study highlights ways to support students in pair programming contexts so that they can maximize the benefits afforded through these experiences.

Analyzing a language-driven content-based language teaching textbook using sociocultural theory

The Asian EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom is famous for its reliance on textbooks to prepare students for high-stakes examinations. It is therefore of importance to ensure the quality of EFL textbooks for quality learning and teaching. While much previous research has been done about pre-use, in-use, and post-use textbook evaluation, there has not been any study about how sociocultural theory may be used as an analytical tool to evaluate EFL textbooks at these different stages of evaluation. The teaching philosophies of different teachers can be rooted in different learning theories, such as constructivism and sociocultural theory. Teachers, thus, need to be sensitive to their own beliefs in terms of learning theories to choose textbooks in a theoretically principled way. This study aims at demonstrating how a Hong Kong high school language-driven content-based language teaching (CBLT) textbook can be analysed in terms of sociocultural theory. The study is guided by the following research question: What are the principles from sociocultural theory which echo the overall design of a Hong Kong CBLT textbook? CBLT is increasingly popular worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia; yet, there are few CBLT textbooks for the English subject in the Asian market. A required textbook of a Hong Kong high school was closely analyzed, with thematic analysis used for analysis. The results of this study show that this textbook exhibits many features of sociocultural theory, such as use of cognitive tools to help promote high-order thinking and use of collaborative talk and then private talk to promote internalization.

“We're just building!”: a study of collaborative coaching interactions

PurposeThis paper aims to clarify opportunities for collaborative interactions between cooperating teachers (CTs) and preservice teachers (PTs) in practice-based teacher preparation programs (TPPs). The study aimed to explore the discursive moves that facilitate collaboration between one CT and PT.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the critical sociocultural theory, this study applied a qualitative microanalytic approach to the study of coaching interactions for the purpose of understanding why and how collaborative discourse developed between a CT and a PT.FindingsThis study of discourse moves within collaborative coaching interactions revealed collaborative interactions developed from strategic repositioning of social roles, which created space for authentic problem-posing by both the CT and the PT, and the co-construction of teaching events, which supported more specific planning toward future lessons; and routine and appreciative use of observational data created space for co-construction and co-inquiry.Practical implicationsThis study illuminated the complex social and discursive dance embedded within collaborative interactions. The findings also suggested that the project of co-constructing curriculum with someone is a powerful and necessary experience for a PT because it is through this co-construction that PTs learn how to design meaningful curriculum and critically reflect on practice.Originality/valueThis study offers new understandings around how collaborative talk in educational discourse transpires and why providing opportunities for PTs to take a more active role in their own learning is important.

Collaboration before Writing: Exploring How Student Talk Contributes to English L2 Written Narratives

Previous studies of prewriting discussions have focused narrowly on classifying the type of student talk e.g., content, organization, language) that occurred during a short planning period. However, less is known about how students’ interactions unfold across multiple prewriting discussions in an entire lesson. To gain further insight into the relationship between collaborative talk and individual writing, this case study explores how two ESL students, Lendina and Mateo, interact during three prewriting activities in one lesson. Data sources include transcripts of the students’ discussions, their narrative texts, and perceptions from the students, their teacher, and an observer. Findings revealed that their discussions were characterized by collaboration (e.g., equality, mutuality, and shared epistemic stance), with each activity contributing concepts and lexical expressions to the students’ narratives. Implications for instructors interested in integrating prewriting discussions into their classes are provided.

Exploring collaborative talk among African-American middle-school girls in the context of game design for social change

Computer Science education research establishes collaboration among students as a key component in learning, particularly its role in pair programming. Furthermore, research shows that girls, an un...

Teachers as Learners: The Impact of Teachers’ Morphological Awareness on Vocabulary Instruction

Academic vocabulary knowledge is central to reading and academic achievement. Largely based in the lexicons of Latin and Greek, academic vocabulary comprises morphemic structures. Many teachers devote little time to focused instruction in this area because they may lack pertinent morphological and pedagogical knowledge. This article reports findings from a broader three-year longitudinal qualitative case study that explored the experiences of three elementary teachers who engaged in professional development that included study of the morphemic features of academic vocabulary and instructional techniques. This article describes changes teachers made to practice because of their deeper understanding of Latin and Greek morphology and how to teach it. Data sources included in-depth and semistructured interviews, direct observations of classroom practice, and analysis of instructional artifacts. Data analysis revealed that all three participants moved from teacher-centered, definitional approaches towards instruction that was student-centered and focused on developing metalinguistic awareness. Instructional shifts reflected participants’ new understandings about metalinguistic awareness, student-directed problem-solving, and collaborative talk in vocabulary learning. Instructional shifts address metalinguistic awareness, morphology, word consciousness, and Spanish–English cognate instruction—areas that may be overlooked in many classrooms.

The intertwined effect of collaborative argumentation and whole-class talk on the process of scientific concept learning: A case study

Abstract There is compelling evidence to show that peer argumentation prompts student scientific concept development at different ages. However, there is also evidence that when students discuss their ideas with their peers, the gains are delayed rather than being immediately evident. Moreover, group outcomes do not seem to be related to individual gains. It is hypothesized that peer discussions trigger a metacognitive process that, in turn, prompts the post-collaborative settlement of students' differences. In classroom settings, it is likely that whole-class interaction plays a relevant role, but this has not yet been properly explored. We conducted a case study with the aim of describing how whole-class interaction may contribute to students' knowledge transformation initiated during peer discussions. We followed one group of four students during a whole unit (Forces) and described how progressive small-group and whole-class interactions prompt the transformation of some notions (gravity and magnetic force) from pre- to post-tests, while leaving others almost unchanged. The results suggest that, while rich peer argumentation around contradictory ideas (discussion) followed by repetitive whole-class arguments may contribute to the progressive transformation of scientific ideas, the mere expression of contradictory ideas, involving tangential argumentation and followed by authoritative whole-class corrections but no arguments, only partially leads to changes. The internalization of the whole-class argument facilitated by peer discussions may enable students to reason in new situations.

Increasing peer collaborative dialogue using a flipped classroom strategy

ABSTRACTThis article reports on a study which employed a flipped classroom strategy to increase the amount of peer dialogue among a group of Iranian EFL learners. The flipped strategy used in this study required the students to study some online materials provided for students via a social network called Telegram. Before attending the class, the participants watched videos related to the topic of each lesson, studied online texts that included the bolded vocabulary, and listened to audio clips related to the focus of every session’s discussion. The analysis of audio-recordings of peer collaborative talk indicated that the flipped strategy, as compared to the traditional teaching, significantly increased collaborative peer dialogue among the learners. Finally, implications of the study for language teachers and researchers interested in this area of inquiry are discussed.

Exploring the relationship between metacognitive and collaborative talk during group mathematical problem-solving – what do we mean by collaborative metacognition?

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to enhance our understanding of the relationship between collaborative talk and metacognitive talk during group mathematical problem-solving. Research suggests that collaborative talk may mediate the use of metacognitive talk, which in turn is associated with improved learning outcomes. However, our understanding of the role of group work on the individual use of metacognition during problem-solving has been limited because research has focused on either the individual or the group as a collective. Here, primary students (aged nine to 10) were video-recorded in a naturalistic classroom setting during group mathematical problem-solving sessions. Student talk was coded for metacognitive, cognitive and social content, and also for collaborative content. Compared with cognitive talk, we found that metacognitive talk was more likely to meet the criteria to be considered collaborative, with a higher probability of being both preceded by and followed by collaborative talk. Our results suggest that collaborative metacognition arises from combined individual and group processes.

Topic Management in Collaborative Oral Group Discussion of English as a Second Language Learners

This study investigates the management of topic in peer collaborative interaction in assessment context. The ability to manage discussion topic in a specific communicative event is fundamental to interactional competence. Topic initiation, topic expansion, moving from one topic to another as well as introducing new topics to peers during collaborative talk requires not only participants’ linguistic abilities but also active participation of all members. This study analysed oral group interactions of English as a Second Language Learners in an institution of higher learning in Malaysia. Group oral interactions of five groups from thirty students were transcribed and analysed using qualitative analysis software, Atlas.Ti. for thematic analysis. The topics used for the oral group discussion were part of compulsory assessments that the students had to undergo in order to complete the course. The findings show that the students were able to initiate the discussion, expand the topic at hand, provided agreement and disagreement where necessary in their effort to ensure the successful completion of the assigned task. The findings of the study have direct implications for language teaching and learning development especially where oral group interactional competence is concerned.

Challenging Neoliberalism and Multicultural Love in Art Therapy

ABSTRACTIn this article, I examine the ties between neoliberalism and multiculturalism in art therapy in the United States. I explore the neoliberal privatization of society as an influence of individualistic norms in the profession. I explain my analysis of multiculturalism using the 1954 film Magnificent Obsession and introduce the concept of a culturally situated love without ethical limits. This type of ideal love functions in art therapy as an expression of white privilege and multicultural color-blindness. I also describe the project Divisive, a collaborative live radio talk show, as an example of how I use my artist practice to engage in self-reflexive dialogue about ethics in art therapy.