ABSTRACT
Talk occupies a crucial position in the classroom in any consideration of principal agents of learning. Adelman and Walker1 express the point thus: ‘We consider that the nature of talk is the only readily available manifestation of the extent and process by which mutual understandings of what counts as knowledge in any context are transacted.’American and British research2 showed that talk in classrooms abides by the ‘rule of two-thirds’– two-thirds of a lesson is talk; two-thirds of the talk is teacher talk; two thirds of the teacher talk is concerned with discipline and procedural matters rather than the lesson content itself. Whether this reflects a traditional, didactic approach to teaching or a less formal style of teaching, the conventional wisdom of this saying reflects the immense significance of classroom talk, not only for instructional matters but for discipline and control. We consider the question of classroom talk in eight main areas: characteristics of talk in classrooms, exposition, explanation, questioning, discussion, responding, summarising, and language and classroom interaction.
