12. Communication

Jump to: Reflective Activities | Further Reading | Research Briefings

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Reflective Activities

Introduction

• To investigate who speaks and how much during a lesson

Characteristics of classroom communication

• To identify question and response patterns in a lesson
• To investigate teacher's handling of pupil's responses within 'question and answer' exchanges

Speaking and Listening

• To analyse listening demands in the lesson
• To appraise the listening skills of individuals
• To investigate aspects in the delivery of expositions
• To examine how an exposition is structured
• To investigate teacher questions within question-and-answer exchanges
• To analyse and categorise an example of classroom talk
• To provide a framework for analysing classroom questions
• To examine discussion skills

Reading

• To reflect on what messages we, as teachers, communicate about reading to learners

Writing

• To compare and contrast the writing and reading expectations in the lessons of two different teachers

Knowledge about Language for Communication

• To highlight some of our own responses to language varieties

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Further Reading

Notes on Further Reading

• Overview
• Dialogic teaching and learning
• Characteristics of classroom communication
• Talking and listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Knowledge about language for communication
• English as an additional language

Useful links

• Cambridge's Thinking Together research and resources on dialogic teaching
• Robin Alexander, 'Dialogic Teaching in Brief'
• Ted Wragg's video 'Types of Questions'

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Research Briefings

• Harnessing everyday literacies for student learning at college