| Summary: | The present research is a system for coding the verbal interactions of teachers and children. Its purpose is to facilitate the interdisciplinary study of the teaching-learning process as one instance of the general communicative process. The coding system is based on data collected in conversations recorded on audio tapes in a dyadic setting between hearing-impaired children and their teachers in two schools in Great Britain. Hearing-impaired children were studied because a wide range of linguistic, cognitive, and affective competencies can be found amongst them. In addition, their communicative behaviours and those of their teachers tend to be exaggerated in many respects; thus, it is easier to study these behaviours in such a population than in the general population. The coding system is also based on previously developed coding systems and other research studies on various aspects of conversation and discourse processes. It includes procedures for dividing the conversation into units ("moves"), and for assigning a pedagogical function (soliciting, responding, reacting, structuring) to each move. The categories and codes describing the pedagogical function of reacting for both. teachers and children are greatly expanded over those found in other systems so that (a) the role of the teacher as reactor and as active listener, as well as solicitor, can be described, and (b) the child's role in the teaching-learning process can be studied. Each move is coded with respect to seven categories ("details"), including: pausing, turntaking, language, cognitive level, conversational function, and link to other moves.A conceptual framework for the coding system was developed that divides teacher and child behaviours into five levels, each higher level reflecting a relative increase in the degree of dependence of behaviours assigned to that level upon other aspects of the conversational context. It is suggested that this is a useful model for coding verbal interaction. It is further suggested that the design and format of the coding system can serve as a model for other systems for coding interaction. Procedures for testing reliability of the coding system are outlined. The general test of reliability which was conducted resulted in better than 907. agreement between coders. Three closely interrelated features of the conversational setting were selected as the primary focus of the coding systems the control exercised by the teacher over the nature and extent of the child's participation, the control exercised by the teacher over the unfolding of the subject matter, and the actions taken by the teacher in response to the nature and extent of the child's participation. Preliminary analysis of some of the coded data suggests that teachers exercise control over the nature and extent of a child's participation by the responses they prescribe and the language and cognitive levels they solicit, as well as through their pausing and turntaking behaviour. The control exercised by teachers over the unfolding of the subject matter is reflected in sequences of moves within segments of the interaction, as well as in sequences of segments. Thus, trains of thought can be described. The actions taken by teachers in response to the nature and extent of the child's participation provide feedback to the child that he can use to evaluate the appropriateness and correctness of his participation, and also an opportunity for the teacher to continue or alter the type and degree of control previously used. On the basis of preliminary analysis of the data it is hypothesized that the quality of interactions between hearing-impaired children and their teachers may greatly influence the linguistic, cognitive, and affective growth of the children. The process by which this may occur is discussed. It is thought that messages about the nature of conversation, about the functions language serves in conversation, and about the roles of the participants are conveyed through combinations and patterns of behaviours. Over time, such messages are internalized by each participant, creating in each a set of beliefs and expectations that influence future interactions. It is suggested that the coding system might be used in studying verbal interaction in the general population as well, and may be especially valuable for studying the interactions of children and their caregivers. It is also said to have potential for advancing our theoretical understanding of the interdependence of the linguistic, cognitive, and affective components of the teaching-learning process.
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