Theory and Research in Practice
The short extracts of teacher-child talk show the possibilities for initiating children
into the styles of language use identified in the literature as supportive of discourse
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or academic language. The extracts show the use of differentiated teacher talk
strategies (McGough, 2008) to support the children in using topic specific
vocabulary and more elaborated structures while conforming to the conditions
of discourse by contributing over a number of turns and using language for a
range of purposes to build a linguistic structure (Hickman, 2003). In preparing for
presentation to an audience, the children are also having the opportunity to develop
their understandings of themselves as tellers and knowers (Halliday, 1993) and the
opportunity to grow in awareness of how language is used for the exchange of
information (Scheele et al. 2012). They are also being challenged to move towards
a more context independent and autonomous style (Hoff, 2006). The extracts also
illustrate the variation in the children’s levels of language competence and, in
keeping with Norwich & Lewis (2005), they show how the children’s common
need for command of the language system, and individual need for differentiated
teaching and learning, can be accommodated within an inclusive framework of
language goals and an inclusive repertoire of teaching strategies.