ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the rationale and procedures of an investigation into reflection within four special school classrooms. The pupils are all described as having moderate learning difficulties; they will indeed have had frequent experiences of ‘difficulties in learning’. An observation schedule was designed for use by the research assistant during each recorded classroom session. The richness and quantity of recorded classroom talk presents an exciting challenge to any researcher. The basic unit used in the derivation of categories of teacher talk was a ‘turn’, an utterance bounded by a pause or another person talking. All the recorded classroom talk by the teachers was included except for purely management activities like tidying up, and talk that she addressed to visitors or other members of staff. The ethos or atmosphere of their classroom must indicate the degree to which the teachers felt valued, supported and motivated within the school community, and this was supported by some of their comments during the interviews.
