Abstract:

The present study was intended to observe and describe the multiple modes of communication employed in the classroom for fostering the learning of students from 7 fifth grades belonging to 3 subsidized private schools in Santiago de Chile, in the areas of Language and Mathematics, during one academic year. This was the specific objective of a wider research project that, by means of a mixed methodology, seeks to establish connections between the communicative conditions of the classroom and students' learning outcomes.

Analyzing communicative conditions is essential for understanding how learning is fostered and produced in the classroom. For this reason, the study is intended to go beyond the perspectives adopted in previous studies --focused on structural aspects of interaction and on teacher discourse-- by incorporating new dimensions of analysis. This objective resulted in the construction of a set of observation guidelines comprising 5 dimensions: academic literacy acquisition; organization for work and modality; interactions, which includes participation, direction of speech, types of questions, types of speech, and dependence-based relationships; mediated interaction, which concerns scaffolding and the use of materials; and, lastly, a socio-emotional dimension of learning.

The instrument affords an integral picture of communication in the classroom, ranging from the cognitive to the socio-emotional, while also providing a cross-sectional overview of domains and interactions, which constitutes a qualitatively deeper and more functional approach to learning. The results involve the combination of the 5 dimensions, exemplified with video extracts of the classes observed.

The full research project involves the observation and analysis of approximately 84 lessons, video-recorded and observed in situ with the set of guidelines generated. Preliminary results, based on approximately 25% of the sample, reveal a scientific literacy acquisition focused on concepts, to the detriment of processes and attitudes; public verbal participation is dominated by the teacher; the most usual mode of work involves the whole class; teachers ask the questions, which are generally rhetoric “completion” questions and structuring questions, with the predominant cognitive function being information recall. Regarding the type of speech used, the predominant one is academic and cumulative, and the teacher-student relationship tend to be marked by absolute dependence. In most sessions, no scaffolding is observed; when it is present, it predominantly concerns conceptual aspects. With respect to the materials used, the most frequently used formats are “paper/cardboard” and the board, are mostly prepared by the teacher, their use is mostly “canonical” and of a “monomodal” nature, its objective being to “know-understand” and “apply-analyze”. In most sessions, a positive socio-emotional action is observed. In terms of motivation, teachers tend to attract students' attention by means of perceptual stimulation. In order to give relevance to the contents covered, teachers make connections with previous knowledge and generate trust in their students by explicitly stating what is expected from them, and also by acknowledging their results.

Keywords:

Communicative Conditions, Learning, semiotic mediations, Primary, Dialogicality.