Browsing by Subject "matematiikan oppitunti"

Goals. Previous studies have shown that teachers have established styles for reacting when a pupil's answer is correct and for choosing the next speaker in interaction. Effects of the teacher's wait time on discourse have also been studied and gender differences are still a current topic even though boys' decreased results and the gender similarities hypothesis have been increasing. The objective for this thesis was to analyse classroom interaction during five math lessons in a situation in which a teacher starts the tripartite IRF (initiation, response, feedback) cycle. The main focus was in a situation in which a pupil answered the teacher's question correctly, how the teacher chose the next speaker and effects of the teacher wait time. The focus was also on gender differences, and more specifically in whether they appear or not. Methods. The conversation analysis approach with the help of quantitative results was used in this thesis as the method of analyzing video recorded lessons from five different sixth grade classes. The research material used in this study was gathered in the spring 2004 and was given to be studied for this thesis. The analysis was based on the video recorded interactions and a transcription of them. Results and conclusions. From the study's material arose a gender difference where boys seemed to break the teacher's sole right to evaluate correct answers by applauding or cheering when another boy answered correctly. Boys appeared to be more active than girls in the participation framework and to signal but there were differences between classes. No gender differences were found in the teachers' styles to choose the next speaker and the greatest reason to choose a pupil to answer appeared to be velocity of the signaling and previous turn takes. Teachers favoured new speakers and they even chose pupils who did not show their willingness to answer if they had been silent in the interaction. Based on the material, boys also answered the questions without the teacher's turn-allocation unlike the girls, which the teachers either bypassed or hushed down. These findings are interesting and motivate further research on the teachers' possible subconscious sentiments and those that are manifested in the classroom interaction.