Re: Classroom discourse

From: Ellice A Forman (ellice+@pitt.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 29 2000 - 08:47:44 PST


Dear Kevin and others,
As Judy's reaction suggests, there is a LONG history of connections
between research on classroom discourse and the situated/CHAT perspective.
I would add that it is ESSENTIAL to understand much of this work to
accomplish the difficult tasks you outline below. Right now, at least in
education, many people are jumping on the discourse bandwagon without any
knowledge of the theories (linguistic, philosophical, psychological and
others) behind the good work in classroom discourse. So my advice is:
PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Many of the prominent leaders in the classroom
discourse field have a long history with the situated/CHAT
perspective--Courtney Cazden, Vera John-Steiner, Gordon Wells, Judith
Greene, Bud Mehan come immediately to mind but there are many others.

I could make many suggestions about sources but you could easily begin by
looking at the work of the above list and moving out from there. One of
the sections of the book I co-edited with Norris Minick and Addison Stone
is devoted to classroom discourse (Contexts for learning, Oxford
University Press, 1993).

The questions you pose for this literature are very useful and very
difficult to address. They are central questions for my work at the moment
and that of many other people. Happy Hunting!

Ellice Forman
Dept of Psychology in Education
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Kevin Leander wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Sorry this is out of step with current topics, but it's a current interest
> of some students here and something I've been mulling over for awhile:
>
> What are some noteworthy recommendations of research on classroom discourse
> that takes a situated/CHAT perspective? Among other possibilities, it would
> interesting to include work that looks at multiple mediational means in
> discourse, the relation of discourse excerpts to longer stretches of
> history, cultures and discourses, and power relations as they are related
> to learning relations.
>
> I'd be happy to compile suggestions and send them back as a single posting.
>
> thanks very much,
>
> Kevin
>
>
> Kevin Leander
> GPC Box 330, Vanderbilt University
> Nashville, TN 37203
> (615) 322-8080
>
>



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