Pupil-pupil talk with young children in mathematics

The project, funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, was carried out in the southwest of England and aimed to develop strategies to support young children (aged 6 to 7 years old) in developing effective talk in small group work. Studies have indicated that in England the traditional initiation-response-feedback (IRF) still dominates in most mathematics classrooms (Kyriacou & Issitt, 2008), and that group work is rarely used strategically (Kutnick, Ota, & Berdondini, 2008; Blatchford, Galton, & Kutnick, 2005). Teachers do not plan for pupil-pupil interactions and pupils have little support in how to interact effectively. Although the children may talk to each other regarding instructions on how to complete a task they often end up working on the mathematics individually. In addition, talk in small groups in England is often directed by the class teacher; this is prevalent in professional development courses using ‘Guided Group Work’ (DCSF, 2010).