Relationship

A study analyzed in detail one 37-minute cllassroom literature discussion to better understand how to foster students' critical reasoning. It investigated the characteristics of classroom interactions that support students in the process of responding to literature, the roles of the participants, and how the teacher can structure the tasks and use language to help students begin with their own initial responses and move beyond, to deeper understanding. Twenty-six seventh-grade English students participated in the discussion. The discussion was then analyzed by segmenting th,: transcript into turns and then into topics, and speakers' interactions were coded to identify the purposes which lay behind each speaker's turn. Then the broader patterns across the whole discussion were examined to note the patterns of participation and control, the roles played by teacher and students, and the ways i