canonically used in a mid-turn position as a so-called "topic-marker", at the end of a turn that is composed of a noun (phrase) only and produced with question intonation. Close examinations of each case reveal that children's use of wa-ending turns is an effective practice that enables them to initiate a sequence on a topic of their choice and engage the adult recipient in that new sequence. Furthermore, the sequence initiated by a wa-ending turn is recognizably relevant to the on-going activity and treated as such by the adult co-participants. Based on an empirical analysis of specific instances, I would like to explore the potential of approach to grammar as participants' practices instantiated in local actions, which are situated in activity as a real-life project.
This research is a criticism of the way Private Speech has been studied and how its existence has been determined. Private Speech is a seminal concept in Vygotskian analysis that has caused his followers problems in their attempts to prove what Vygotsky has found in relation to that concept. I will show that these researchers would have benefitted by performing top down/theory driven research instead of a more conversation analytic/bottom-up approach which is more appropriate. I will display my general findings and then intensley focus on one incidence of Private Speech to make my point.
I attempt to show that students' understandings and misunderstandings are made visible through teachers' using a blackboard and the so-called I-R-E sequence.
It seems to be a very evident fact that children very often become able to do what they were not able to do: an obvious instance should be speaking a language. My interest, however, is not in specifying conditions which facilitate this 'change of ability', but reconsidering the very conception of the change of ability, in the analysis of videotaped violin lesson sessions. I do not deny that evident fact I mentioned above. I only attempt to sociologically or interaction analytically reconstruct the conception of what is called learning. (I must say I do not have any idea right now what I should say about this topic, but I hope by the time we meet next week I will become able to do what I AM NOT able to do.)