Classroom discourse and opportunities to learn: An ethnographic study of knowledge construction in a bilingual third‐grade classroom
- 1 January 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Discourse Processes
- Vol. 19 (1), 75-110
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539109544906
Abstract
The present study examines how two teams of students in a bilingual third‐grade classroom co‐construct knowledge through their oral and written discourse. By analyzing the various interactional patterns, times, and spaces of the class members, the multiple and varied opportunities for learning become visible. We also explore the role of the teacher in constructing these opportunities for learning. Our findings demonstrate how a pair of female students and a triad of male students, through their interaction and talk, negotiate, shape, and reshape the common task of writing a draft of a “planet story.” Our data suggest that although a common task does not necessarily lead to common opportunities to learn, it may provide a wide range of opportunities for students to construct their own knowledge and thus to learn.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Becoming a mathematician: Building a situated definition of mathematicsLinguistics and Education, 1993
- The construction of understanding in a sixth-grade bilingual classroomLinguistics and Education, 1993
- Negotiating what counts: Roles and relationships, texts and contexts, content and meaningLinguistics and Education, 1993
- Talking knowledge into being: Discursive and social practices in classroomsLinguistics and Education, 1993
- The Social Construction of Intertextuality in Classroom Reading and Writing LessonsReading Research Quarterly, 1993
- Becoming a person in the preschool: creating integrated gender, school culture, and peer culture positioningsInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1993
- Critical Discourse Analysis and the Marketization of Public Discourse: The UniversitiesDiscourse & Society, 1993
- How talk, context, and script shape contexts for learning: A cross-case comparison of journal sharingLinguistics and Education, 1993
- Diverse Paths to Literacy in a Preschool Classroom: A Sociocultural PerspectiveReading Research Quarterly, 1992
- A Situated Perspective on What Counts as ReadingPublished by John Benjamins Publishing Company ,1991