Hellermann2005

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Hellermann2005
BibType ARTICLE
Key Hellermann2005
Author(s) John Hellermann
Title The Sequential and Prosodic Co-construction of a "Quiz Game" Activity in Classroom Talk
Editor(s)
Tag(s) prosody, classroom discourse, activity types, acoustics, triadic dialogue, action projection
Publisher
Year 2005
Language
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 37
Number 6
Pages 919–944
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2004.09.009
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This paper investigates how an activity type called “quiz game”, borrowed from one institution (the television game show) is co-constructed in another institutional setting (the classroom) through practices of talk in interaction embodied in systematic prosodic practices.

Following research which advocates the analysis of prosody from the perspectives of both production and perception [‘t Hart et al., 1990] this paper uses techniques from conversation analysis to uncover participants’ orientation to the sequence of talk, by focusing on how prosody is used systematically as a contextualization cue in the co-construction of the ‘quiz game’ activity type. Acoustical analysis is also undertaken both to insure analytic reliability and for illustrative purposes in the presentation.

The sequence of turns at talk is examined in ‘quiz game’ activities from three class periods in a 9th grade physical science classroom. Findings show systematic uses of pitch level and contour in the triadic dialogue (‘IRF’ exchanges; Sinclair and Coulthard), which distinguish the ‘quiz game’ activities from other classroom pedagogical tasks. A second finding indicates that the action projection of the third part in this three-part sequence in ‘quiz game’ activities differs from the third slot in other instructional talk.

Notes