Crossing the Bridge to Practice

Abstract

Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's theories of social interaction are so general that they are not always useful guides for classroom practice. This study of secondary school classrooms in Great Britain and the United States reveals that when teachers apply similar theories to everyday practice, important pedagogical contrasts remain—both in terms of the ways in which instruction is organized and in terms of what students produce. The theories need elaborating. In everyday practice, social interaction is not binary, that is, either there is interaction or there is not. Rather, participants position themselves along a continuum of involvement—from highly involved to relatively uninvolved. Learners occupy different points within classrooms, from one classroom to another, and for the same student at different times. Also, the social space within the classroom affects student involvement and the teacher's ability to track it. This study found that in classrooms with the most highly involved interactions, students participated in curriculum making and belonged to a close-knit community.

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