Classroom Interaction

Kristian Mortensen

This project investigates participation in the language classroom, which has a substantial research tradition. The interest in participation rests on two assumptions: first, the notion of participation has been associated with students’ verbal and vocal conduct and it is assumed that getting access to turn-at-talk is essential for language learning. Second, that teachers and the ways in which they organize and manage classroom activities both facilitate and constrain student participation. More recently, and closely linked to the methodological approach within SOIL, studies have described how students’ (verbal and vocal) participation is embedded within their bodily conduct including orientation to material artifacts. Our current work includes teachers’ use of graphic structures as elicitation devices; (transgressions) of the moral order during pedagogical activities and bodily resources in and for repair sequences.