Symposium on Communication Practices in the Classroom: Visible and Hidden Dimensions of Teaching
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference |
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| Description | The institution of school is based on a number of particular communication practices which are seen as normal and natural only in the school environment. These communication practices take place both verbally, on the level of discourse i.e., in language, and non-verbally, on the level of the body. Communication practices run like a golden thread through the life of the classroom: they mediate curricular changes and support pupil learning. Pedagogical research typically examines educational dialogue, the quality of teachers' questions and pupils' responses, pupil participation, the provision of scaffolding, etc. Communication practices are hence essential for the creation of social relationships and for the emergence of power structures and patterns of empathy and antipathy. It is therefore important to realise that the role of communication practices should not be overlooked in pedagogical research. The aim of the symposium is to create a discussion space for a micro perspective of school interactions which take place between teachers and pupils, but also among classroom peers. We are interested in both typical communication practices (which represent the norm), but also in newer and progressive techniques which document how a deviation from the shared norm is created. Communication practices have their explicit side (which is acknowledged and clearly declared by their participants) and also their implicit side (which is not reflected and whose meaning is hidden even from the participants of school interaction in the classroom). |