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Name: Ahtasham Naveed Dar: Structure
Name: Ahtasham Naveed Dar: Structure
Patterns of exchange
Often a teacher can fall into a role or pattern where they control the legitimate flow of knowledge
between the teacher and the pupil. This has been identified by Edwards and Mercer as Initiation,
Response, Feedback (IRF). For example the teacher will ask the class a question, knowing the answer
already, and then control the legitimate feedback of answers from the children. If this pattern of
exchange is overused in the classroom it can limit:
- turn taking
- negotiating and collaboration
- justifying and reasoning.
Peer to peer talk is symmetrical and encourages the development of language and thought. The way in
which children interact, and the degree of success, depends on the nature of the task and the medium,
be it visual, oral etc., according to the children's personal learning preferences. The way a teacher sets
up a task and the pupils' perception of it needs to be strategic and ground rules for collaboration need to
be set out.
The most typical classroom interaction pattern is the three-turn Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF)
pattern. This pattern begins with a Question. Usually we ask questions to find out something we do not
already know, but in classroom interactions teachers generally know the answers already. The teacher
asks Questions so that students can display what they have learned.
Often the teacher also shows the student how to improve the Response.
In classroom interactions teachers can use the Initiation-Response-Feedback pattern to:
- check that students have learned what they are supposed to have learned
- lead students step-by-step through a logical process, eg showing them how to solve a problem
- make important knowledge and understanding clear to students
- use the Feedback turn to improve the students' knowledge and understanding as necessary
In the Feedback move, teachers very often reword or recast students' responses in order to show
students a more appropriate way to express an idea, or develop the student's idea in some way. For
example in the following interaction between a teacher and student about the findings of an experiment
with magnets:
In the Feedback move, teachers very often reword or recast students' responses in order to do one of the
following:
• show students a more appropriate way to express an idea
• develop the student's idea in some way.
Here is another example: