Researching classroom interactions: A methodology for teachers and researchers

Abstract : Teaching and learning in schools is a complex social process which involves both the teacher and students in distributed knowledge-building activities. Research into this process includes researchers exploring from the outside and teachers exploring from the inside (Bassey, 1995). Jaworski (2003) draws on the work of Wagner (1997) to elaborate a form of research which she calls co-learning, in which research on classroom learning is “conducted jointly by outsiders and insiders” (p 250). The work we present in this chapter fits very much into this co-learning paradigm, and our emphasis here is on presenting a methodology for engaging in such co-learning. In this respect we present an approach to investigating classroom interactions which incorporates the perspectives of both classroom teachers and educational researchers, drawing on their different cultural backgrounds and particular areas of expertise. We explain how we use digital video to enable both researchers and teachers to distil the complexities of teaching and learning through creating video-linked commentaries of classroom practice.