Classroom Interaction Research: The State of the Art

ABSTRACT

This article reviews classroom interaction research that uses Conversation Analysis and other interactional approaches. Schools as social institutions are crucial in the modern world, preparing people to live in highly complex societies, from preschool through to tertiary education and beyond. Although classrooms vary significantly internationally, research has focused mainly on schools where classes have a teacher in charge of varying numbers of students. While most research has been on English as an additional language (EAL) and other second language classrooms, this article will also review work on classrooms where other school subjects are taught, classrooms with younger children, as well as CA work that focuses on learning. Data reported are in English.

Notes

¹ This review can be read as an updated version of Gardner (2012). The field has burgeoned since then, so I have attempted in this review to focus as much as possible on aspects of classroom interaction research that were not included in that chapter. Unavoidably, there is overlap and repetition, but, due to space limitations, it also means that some aspects of classroom interaction, such as repair and turn design, are given relatively short shrift in this review, and there are fewer extracts from classroom interactions.