Language as a tool for learning

Education should aim to seek ways of introducing and teaching children how to use language for investigating, sharing and creating knowledge (Mercer et al 1999). Researchers suggested that teachers should enable students to understand the talk that is used in the classroom context in any subject and then associate it with their existing knowledge and mode of thinking (Mercer et al. 1999). In sociocultural theory thinking and learning are associated practices which are developed through culture and cannot be understood without considering the social and communicative character of human activity (Mercer, 2004). Learning can be defined as “the activity of mediating social and cultural participation with individual cognitive sense making” (Martin, 2009, p. 20)

Recently research focused its attention on how talk is used in the context of the classroom and did not just examine the way talk is used as a tool for social communication (Mercer, 1996). Particularly, research highlighted the way talk functions as a medium for sharing knowledge as well as a tool which adults use to influence the conceptions of social reality and the interpretations of experiences which children finally adopt (Mercer, 1996). For Mercer (1996) talk between students is important for the beginning and the creation of learning. Collective practices in the classroom which enable learners to jointly construct their reasoning through language are crucial in comparison with teacher centred conversations. Mercer (1996) uses the term “collaborative activity” in the classroom in terms of group work which encourages talk among learners to ensure the development of understanding though it is not always successful if talk is characterised by low academic quality, e.g. social talk. In my study,

the research focuses on the way the classroom works as a group and how talk is used to develop knowledge collaboratively and by reasoning together.

Mercer, (2004) argues that learning progress or failure may not be a result of individual cognitive abilities or teacher’s skills but a consequence of an educational dialogue characterised by low quality meaning using off target talk, and non academic talk. So, this is where further investigation is needed in terms of the way the intermental (social) activity promotes the intramental (individual) activity and how language is related to thinking (Mercer, 2004).

Human activity is characterised by communicative interactions for the purpose of sharing information and exchange ideas. Mercer (2000; 2004) stated that people not only interact but also ‘interthink’ when working together by combining their mental abilities to resolve a task. Conversations are usually based on common knowledge, move from past into future and negotiate meanings so that the creation of a common understanding of the topic of the discussion can be achieved (Mercer, 2004). This study is interested in the way joint learning is forwarded and produced in the interactions of the class’s students.

Moreover, Mercer (2004; 2008) stated that talk is characterised by a contextualised and dynamic nature which is used for joint thinking. Mercer (2004; 2008) also claimed that communication between people has both a historical aspect and a dynamic aspect. Interaction is situated within a specific social and educational context supporting its historical characteristics. Additionally, knowledge can be developed by travelling from

the past to the future that is by recalling common past experiences (Mercer, 2004). The dynamic idea of collective thinking concerns the contextual foundation of knowledge based on shared understanding , which has a non -static character and thus is continually being developed (Mercer, 2004).

From a different perspective, Creese and Martin (2003; 2008) used the term ‘ecological microsystems’ to characterise classrooms and stressed the importance of investigating dialogic practices in the classroom but in relation to language choice and language policy. Through the use of the term “ecological microsystem” they highlighted the ecological function of the classroom that led to learning. The teacher and the learners have to use talk as the primary tool for establishing a shared structure of understanding from their prior common knowledge. Teachers use various teaching techniques to create a framework of shared understanding of the practices that students are engaged in (Mercer, 2004).

It is well supported by research that by sharing ideas, children can develop a more general way of understanding ensuring that this is achieved through active participation in the classroom (Mercer, 1996). Mercer (2004) argued that education is considered as a dialogic process in which students and teachers follow the principles and social practices of their schools as cultural institutions. Blackledge and Creese (2009) followed Bakhtin’s (1981) philosophical orientation arguing that discourse is dialogic meaning that is created and influenced by the voices of others reflecting the context that language is being used.

I wish to refer briefly to Bakhtin's notion of intertextuality, that is the linking of talk or written texts across contexts and people, as it applies to the children's talk data, in our class discussions. According to Maybin (2003), Bakhtin (1981) argues that,

“Certain aspects of these other conversations and contexts are highlighted through the voice and brought into play in the current conversation. For example, we may report someone's voice in telling an anecdote to call up a particular scenario or repeat an authoritative voice to lend weight to our argument. The associations a voice brings with it and the authority it invokes become an essential part of the meaning-making in the reporting context." (p.160)

In my analysis and discussions of the children's talk data in chapter 10, I do not draw further on Bakhtin's ideas of intertextuality, as I prefer to use Mercer's ideas of disputational, cumulative and exploratory talk, which are closely linked to Bakhtin's notion of intertextuality, and are more pertinent to my main discussion of pedagogy and translanguaging.