presentation

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Filling vessels or kindling fires – what is teaching, and how does it impact on learning?
Richard Rossner
A. Sociocultural theory of education (Vygotsky)
 Learning precedes development
 Language is the main vehicle (tool) of thought
 Mediation is central to learning
 Social interaction is the basis of learning and development. Learning is a process of
apprenticeship and internalisation in which skills and knowledge are transformed from the
social into the cognitive plane.
 The Zone of Proximal Development is the primary activity space in which learning occurs.
(adapted from Walqui 2006)
Teaching talk (Alexander 2008, p 103)
• Drilling, repetition (‘rote’)
• Recitation (through questioning)
• Instruction, exposition
• Discussion (exchange of ideas)
• Dialogue (towards common
understanding)
B. Teacher’s talk (Mercer 2000)
 Recapitulation
 Elicitation
 Repetition
 Reformulation
 Exhortation
‘Learning talk’ (Alexander 2008 p.104)
• Narrate
• Explain
• Instruct
• Ask different kinds of questions
• Receive, act and build upon answers
• Analyse and solve problems
• Speculate & imagine
• Explore & evaluate ideas
• Discuss
• Argue, reason & justify
• Negotiate
Contingent vital abilities: learners must
be able and willing to:
• Listen
• Be receptive to alternative viewpoint
• Think about what you hear
• Give others time to think
Principles of dialogic teaching (Alexander 208 p.105):
Collective: teachers and learners address learning tasks together
Reciprocal: teachers and learners listen to each other, share ideas, consider alternative viewpoints
Supportive: learners express their ideas freely, help each other towards common understanding
Cumulative: teachers and learners build on their own and each other’s ideas
Purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talks with specific educational goals in mind

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C. Pedagogical scaffolding (adapted from Walqui, after van Lier 1996)
Continuity Tasks are repeated, with variations and connected to one another (e.g. as part of
projects).
Contextual support Exploration is encouraged in a safe, supportive environment; access to means
and goals is provided in a variety of ways
Intersubjectivity Mutual engagement and rapport are established; there is encouragement and
non-threatening participation in a shared community of practice.
Contingency Task procedures are adjusted depending on the actions of learners; [their]
contributions and utterances are oriented towards each other and may be co-
constructed.
Handover/takeover There is an increasing role for the learner as skills and confidence increase; the
teacher watches carefully for the learner’s readiness to take over additional parts
of the action.
Flow Skills and challenges are in balance; participants are focused on the task and are
‘in tune’ with each other.
D. Language, reflection, recoding and learning
 ‘The first of these conditions is… the use of active methods which give broad scope to the
spontaneous research of the child or adolescent and require every new truth to be learned,
rediscovered or at least reconstructed by the student, and not simply imparted to him’ (Piaget
1973)
 “…much of growth starts out by our turning around and recoding [re-expressing] in new
forms…what we have been doing and seeing, then going on to new modes of organisation with
the new products that have been formed by these recodings” (Bruner 1966)
 “Talk and writing provide means by which children are able to reflect on the bases upon which
they are interpreting reality, and thereby change them” (Barnes 1976)
 “Teachers have a professional responsibility for helping their students to build new understandings
upon the foundations of their previous learning, and language is the main tool available to the
teaching profession for doing this…..teachers can also help students to learn how language can be
used as a tool for making joint, coherent sense of experience” (Mercer 2000)
References & further reading
Alexander R. 2008. ‘Culture, dialogue and learning: notes on an emerging pedagogy’ in Mercer &
Hogkinson (eds.). Exploring Talk in Schools
Barnes, D. 1976. From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth UK: Penguin Books
Bloom B S (ed.) 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the classification of educational goals –
Handbook I: Cognitive Domain New York: McKay (see also Marzano & Kendall below)
Bruner J. 1984. Actual Minds Possible Worlds. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press
Marzano R.J. and J.S. Kendall. (eds.). 2007. The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Thousand
Oaks CA: Corwin Press
Mercer Neil. 2000. Words and Mind – How we Use Language to Think Together. London UK:
Routledge
Mercer N. and S. Hodgkinson (eds.) 2008. Exploring Talk in Schools. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage
Publications
Piaget J. 1973. To Understand is to Invent - The Future of Education. New York: the Viking Press
Van Lier, L. 1996. Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy and Authenticity.
London: Longman
Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Walqui A. 2006 ‘Scaffolding instruction for English language learners: a conceptual framework’ The
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism Vol.9 No.2, pp.159-180
Wood D.J., Bruner J. and Ross. 1976. ‘The role of tutoring in problem solving’ Journal of Child
Psychology 17 (2) pp.89-100