Teaching, learning and classroom discourse. Approaches to the study of educational discourse

ENGLISH EDITION / EDICIÓN EN INGLÉS Over the past two decades, educational discourse has become a priority focus of attention for researchers into school teaching and learning processes. All the studies in this volume share the basic idea that the analysis of educational discourse, and more specifically the analysis of the speech produced by teachers and learners in the course of teaching and learning activities, is essential to identifying the meanings that circulate and are negotiated in the classroom. The analysis of classroom discourse is seen as a crucial way of progressing towards a deeper understanding of why and how learners learn, or fail to learn, and of why and how teachers contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, to promoting this learning. The main roots of this perspective are in Vygotsky and sociocultural psychology, including the central role given by Vygotsky to educational interaction in the formation of mind. However, the authors adopt a range of perspectives and tensions within and across those shared concerns. The chapters vary in the relative importance or priority given to discourse, context, action and cognition.…