A preliminary investigation into communication in the special needs classroom during Key Stage Three English lessons

Bunning, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7396-9205 and Ellis, Martina (2010) A preliminary investigation into communication in the special needs classroom during Key Stage Three English lessons. Child Language Teaching & Therapy, 26 (2). pp. 180-194. ISSN 1477-0865

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Abstract

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate the communicative roles performed by teacher and pupil during Key Stage 3 (KS3) English lessons. Two classes of a special school were involved in the study. Data collection employed video capture of teacher—pupil communication during timetabled English lessons. The data were transcribed and analysed in terms of interaction structure, communicative functions and modes. Significant differences between teachers and pupils were observed with regard to interactional structure: the teachers occupied more turns and used a higher number of initiating and follow-up moves than the pupils; the pupils used more response moves than the teachers. Analysis of communicative functions revealed significant differences between teachers and pupils, with teachers using more requestives and feedbacks. The exception was the informative function, which showed no significant difference between the groups. In terms of communicative modes, teachers used significantly more speech, although no significant differences were recorded on the measures of sign and gesture. This small-scale study illustrates the use of the initiation—response—follow-up sequence in communication within the classroom. Teacher use of multi-modal communication appears to reflect those used by the pupils in the study. Implications for future research and practice are considered.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Allied Health Professions (former - to 2013)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Participation (former - to 2013) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Rehabilitation Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2010 11:13
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2023 00:34
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/15018
DOI:	10.1177/0265659010368752

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