TY - JOUR
T1 - Fostering learner independence through heuristic scaffolding
T2 - A valuable role for teaching assistants
AU - Radford, Julie
AU - Bosanquet, Paula
AU - Webster, Rob
AU - Blatchford, Peter
AU - Rubie-Davies, Christine
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Teaching assistants currently play a key pedagogical role in supporting learners with special educational needs. Their practice is primarily oral, involving verbal differentiation of teacher talk or printed materials. In order to help students think for themselves, this paper argues that their practice should be informed by heuristic scaffolding. A substantial dataset from three teaching assistant projects was scrutinised for examples of heuristics. Using conversation analysis, the paper shows how assistance is negotiated and adjusted over a sequence of discourse. Four patterns of heuristic scaffolding are shown: heuristic modelling represents the highest level of support; heuristic questioning and prompting are jointly negotiated with the student. Self-scaffolding by students shows them taking responsibility for their own learning strategies. Implications for the school system are explored.
AB - Teaching assistants currently play a key pedagogical role in supporting learners with special educational needs. Their practice is primarily oral, involving verbal differentiation of teacher talk or printed materials. In order to help students think for themselves, this paper argues that their practice should be informed by heuristic scaffolding. A substantial dataset from three teaching assistant projects was scrutinised for examples of heuristics. Using conversation analysis, the paper shows how assistance is negotiated and adjusted over a sequence of discourse. Four patterns of heuristic scaffolding are shown: heuristic modelling represents the highest level of support; heuristic questioning and prompting are jointly negotiated with the student. Self-scaffolding by students shows them taking responsibility for their own learning strategies. Implications for the school system are explored.
KW - Classroom talk
KW - Conversation analysis
KW - Paraprofessionals
KW - Pedagogy
KW - Scaffolding
KW - Teaching assistants
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84888030587&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijer.2013.02.010
DO - 10.1016/j.ijer.2013.02.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84888030587
SN - 0883-0355
VL - 63
SP - 116
EP - 126
JO - International Journal of Educational Research
JF - International Journal of Educational Research
ER -