Abstract
This chapter builds upon a substantial body of literature focused on the taken-for-grantedness of classroom interaction for enacting academically productive talk in lessons; but extends this focus into pre-service teacher education. It is argued that to know about the role of classroom talk in learning is simply not enough; what is required is an explicit practical focus on learning to listen, observe and interact with students in classrooms and be mentored in the process. Therefore, it will be proposed that developing a repertoire of learning focused, flexible and academically enriching interaction practices requires overt designed-in opportunities for pre-service teachers to both learn about and to practise. To do this, the chapter draws on a 3-year empirical study conducted at a regional Australian university that investigated how learning to interact in contextually relevant sites is critical for bridging and extending the theory-practice nexus. A key finding was that by having pre-service teachers, in their first year professional experience placements, focus critically on listening to and interacting with students within the inter-subjective spaces of classrooms, there was a distinctive shift in how they perceived what teaching entails. Furthermore, results reveal how practising enacting particular talk moves produces the kinds of substantive learning conversations required to achieve the outcomes of the curriculum at the same time create a more dialogic and participatory classroom culture.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Note: for a fuller description see Edwards-Groves, Anstey, & Bull, 2014.
- 3.
According to Wittgenstein ( 1958) a language game is a shared, collective, intersubjective achievement involving one or more interlocutors who share broad ‘forms of life’ (like particular teachers and students participating in a particular lesson in a particular classroom).
- 4.
Note: It is not the intention of the author to criticise the IRF (it forms an important, and possibly necessary, organisational mechanism for teaching); the intention is to raise consciousness of its taken-for-grantedness and the constraints it can put on creating dialogic and participatory classroom interactions.
- 5.
The description of theory of practice architectures presented in this chapter is a necessarily brief and somewhat malnourished account of the theory; a fully articulated description can be found in Springer text:
Kemmis, S., Wilkinson , J., Edwards-Groves , C., Hardy , I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing Practices, Changing Education. Singapore: Springer
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Acknowledgements
First, I wish to acknowledge Professor JoAnne Reid, Charles Sturt University, for her vision in setting this research in motion. Second, I acknowledge collaborator Mrs Rhonda Hoare for her influence in directing the research. And third, I thank the PSTs , classroom teacher mentors and members of the first year academic team for participating in the study over the three years. Without your energy in engaging in change focused on “talking to learn” the study would not have been possible.
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Edwards-Groves, C.J. (2016). Reconceptualising First Year Professional Experience: Enacting a Repertoire of Learning Focused Talk for Efficacy in Teaching Practice. In: Brandenburg, R., McDonough, S., Burke, J., White, S. (eds) Teacher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0785-9_6
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