Within the study of interaction in the classroom we might distinguish three perspectives: a linguistic one, one that is related to schoolpolitics and a practical one. Linguists often tend to concentrate only on the linguistic perspective. To restore the balance, in this contribution I'll lay stress on the practical perspective, while the schoolpolitical perspective will figure as significant context. With a "practical perspective" on the analysis of classroom interaction I do not mean to offer a list of instructions which teachers can (or must) apply in their classroom prac-tice, but to create the possibility for teachers to have a meaningful reflection at their own lessons. How this can be done I'll try to show by discussing some aspects of the so called "Paulusproject", a curriculum innovation project which emphazises the role of language in learning processes. Successsively attention will be paid to:
- the backgrounds, aims and practice of the Paulusproject: At the St.Pauluslyceum in Tilburg a small group of tea-chers has developped during the last 7 years several pro-grams for various subjects (like history and biology) for pupils of the 7-th form (12,13 years old). In those programs one has tried to achieve an integration of subject teaching and language teaching.
the way in which the profeet teachers reflect at their own practice:
In the Paulusproject curriculum development has always been closely related to the reflection at the existing classroom practice. This reflection has been made possible by team teaching(a biologist and an Enlish teacher working together in one and the same lesson) and by re-cording the lessons on videotape. In general meetings the project teachers watched these videotapes and made "explorative analysis" of lessons. An example will be given of the way teachers used interaction analysis du-ring such a meeting.
an example of practice oriented analysis of classroom interaction:
Discussing a few fragments from biology lessons I'll try to show what I mean by an 'explorative' analysis. Although from a linguistic point of view such an ana-lysis may have various hooks and eyes, I'll suggest that for the progress of the project it has been of great value: it can be made rather quick by the teachers themselves and it maintains a high level of liveliness.
some general conclusions:
With reference to the experience we have had in the Pau-lusproject, I'll conclude with some remarks on interaction analysis, curriculum innovation and the description of innovation.
Phosphorus – a “political” element for transdisciplinary chemistry education
