ABSTRACT
In this book our particular interest is in how learning and development are assisted by the dialogues that take place in classrooms. We take a sociocultural perspective and emphasize the important role of social interaction for constructing knowledge and understanding. In this chapter we present a brief review of how this topic has been defined by lines of psychological enquiry that began in the earlier part of the last century. We then go on to consider the relevance of the concepts that emerged from that research for understanding the processes of teaching, learning and cognitive development as they take place in a school environment. We also explain why we believe these concepts require some redefinition if they are to be useful for understanding education in the classroom.
