Den kommunicerande läraren: En observationsstudie av fyra lärares kommunikativa strategier under matematiklektioner

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to get a better understanding of the various communicative strategies teachers of first and second graders use to engage their pupils in dialogues during mathematics lessons. A qualitative study was made in which I analysed the material of complete lesson recordings of four teachers during their mathematics lessons. The material was then analysed by using the already defined categories: scaffolding, funnelling, open questions and shut questions. The results found indicate a possible connection between the specific strategy chosen and the teachers’ varied opportunities to open up a dialog with the pupils. In addition to that the results also revealed a tendency among the teachers to favour shut questions, leaving the pupils limited to a very few worded response. Open questions, where the pupil is offered more time and space to formulate an answer of his or her thoughts had a very low frequency and were only functioning in one of the four classrooms. A correlation between shut questions and the use of funnelling versus the use of open questions together with scaffolding could also be seen. These findings may support further research on determining the effects of different communicative strategies in supporting teachers engaging their students in dialogues.