Cover not available

Article published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 4:2 (2014) ► pp.234–260

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Formulations in dialogic facilitation of classroom interactions

 | Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Published online: 15 September 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.4.2.04bar
Formulations are turns of talk that address both interlocutors’ perspectives (in previous turns) and participation (in subsequent turns). This paper examines formulations in interactions, taking place during classroom workshops held with children aged 10–13 and coordinated by facilitators. The analysis shows the ways in which facilitators’ formulations combine reference to the children’s previous statements with the projection of children’s positioning, thus creating different opportunities for children’s active participation and dialogic forms of communication. In the context taken into consideration, formulations can have five different functions: revoicing; promoting assessments of children’s performances; promoting diverging opinions about controversial issues; supporting children’s expressions of emotional experiences and rapport; concluding interactions by asserting shared values (upshot formulations). The analysis reveals that, in achieving different functions, formulations can take different forms, displaying and enhancing different forms of expectations and positioning, with different consequences on dialogic forms of communication.
References (50)
Antaki Charles, Rebecca Barnes, and Ivan Leudar. 2005. “Diagnostic Formulations in Psychotherapy.” Discourse Studies 7 (6): 627–647. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Antaki, Charles. 2008. “Formulations in Psychotherapy.” In Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, ed. by Anssi Peräkylä, Charles Antaki, Sanna Vehviläinen, and Ivan Leudar, 26–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Asmuss, Birte, and Jan Svennevig. 2009. “Meeting Talk. An Introduction.” Journal of Business Communication 46 (1): 3–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio. 2012a. >“Participation, Facilitation and Mediation in Educational Interactions.” In Participation, Facilitation, and Mediation. Children and Young People in their Social Contexts, ed. by Claudio Baraldi and Vittorio Iervese, 66–86. London-New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio. 2012b. “The Function of Formulations in Polyphonic Dialogue.” In Spces of Polyphony, ed. by Ubaldina Lorda and Peter Zabalbeascoa, 73–85. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio, and Federico Farini. 2011. “Dialogic Mediation in International Groups of Adolescents.” Language and Dialogue 1(2): 207–232. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barnes, Rebecca. 2007. “Formulation and the Facilitation of Agreement in Meetings Talk.” Text & Talk 27 (3): 273–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beach, Wayne, and C.N. Dixson. 2001. “Revealing Moments: Formulating Understandings of Adverse Experiences in a Health Appraisal Interview.” Social Science and Medicine 521: 25–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolden, Galina. 2010. “Articulating the Unsaid via And-Prefaced Formulations of Other’s Talk.” Discourse Studies 12 (1): 5–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clifton, Jonathan. 2006. “A Conversation Analytical Approach to Business Communication. The Case of Leadership.” Journal of Business Communication 43 (3): 202–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Beyond Taxonomies of Influence. ‘Doing’ Influence and Making Decisions in Management Team Meetings.” Journal of Business Communication 46 (1): 57–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deppelmann, Arnulf. 2011. “Notionalization: The Transformation of Descriptions in Categorizations.” Human Studies 341: 155–181. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drew, Paul. 2003. “Comparative Analysis of Talk-in-Interaction in Different Institutional Settings.” In Studies in Language and Social Interaction, ed. by P. Glenn, C. LeBaron, J. Mandelbaum, 293–308. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drew, Paul, and John Heritage. 1992. Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gafaranga, Joseph, and Britten, Nancy. 2004. “Formulation in General Practice Consultation.” Text 24 (2): 147–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gafaranga, Joseph, and Nancy Britten. 2007. “Patient Participation in Formulating and Opening Sequences.” In Patient Participation in Health Care Consultations: Qualitative Perspectives, ed. by Sarah Collins, Nancy Britten, Joanna Ruusuvuori, and Andrew Thompson, 104–120. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony. 1984. The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harré, Rom, and Luk Van Langenhove (eds). 1999. Positioning Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hendry, Richard. 2009. Building and Restoring Respectful Relationships in Schools. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage John. 1985. “Analysing News Interviews: Aspects of the Production of Talk for an Overhearing Audience.” In Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Discourse and Dialogue, ed. by Teun Van Dijk, 95–117. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, John, and Steven Clayman. 2010. Talk in Action. Interactions, Identities, and Institutions. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, John, and Rod D. Watson. 1979. “Formulations as Conversational Objects”. In Everyday Language, ed. by George Psathas, 123–162. New York: Irvington Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1980. “Aspects of the Properties of Formulations in Natural Conversations: Some Instances Analysed”. Semiotica 30 (3/4): 245–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Malcolm, John Davis, Prout Alan, and Key Tisdall. 2004. “Moving the Participation Agenda Forward.” Children & Society 181: 77–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchby, Ian. 2005. “Active Listening: Formulations and the Elicitation of Feelings-Talk in Child Counselling.” Research on language and Social Interaction 38 (3): 303–329. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Allison. 2009. “Agency”. In The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies, ed. by Jens Qvortrup, William Corsaro, and Michael-Sebastian Honig, 34–45. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Allison, Chris Jenks, and Alan Prout. 1998. Theorizing Childhood. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luhmann, Niklas. 1984. Soziale Systeme. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McHoul, Alexander. 1990. “The Organization of Repair in Classroom Talk.” Language in society 191: 349–377. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mead Nicola, and Peter Bower. 2000. “Patient Centredness: A Conceptual Framework and Review of the Empirical Literature.” Social Science & Medicine 511: 1087–1110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mearns, Dave, and Brian Thorne. 1999. Person-centred Counselling in Action. London/Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mehan, Hugh. 1979. Learning Lessons. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mercer, Neil. 2002. “Developing Dialogues.” In Learning for Life in the 21st Century, ed. by Gordon Wells, and Guy Claxton, 141–153. London: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mercer, Neil, and Karen Littleton. 2007. Dialogue and Development of Children’s Thinking. London/New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Connor, Catherine, and Sarah Michaels. 1996. “Shifting Participant Frameworks: Orchestrating Thinking Practices in Group Discussion.” In Discourse, Learning, and Schooling, ed. by Deborah Hicks, 63–103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Percy-Smith, Barry, and Nigel Thomas (eds). 2010. A Handbook of Children’s and Young People’s Participation. Perspectives from Theory and Practice. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rogers, Carl. 1951. Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seedhouse, Paul. 2004. The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Conversation Analysis and Language Learning.” Language Teaching 38 (4): 165–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Interaction and Constructs”. In Language Learning and Teaching as Social Inter-action, ed. by Zhu Hua, Paul Seedhouse, and Vivian Cook, 9–21. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharpe, Tina. 2008. “How Can Teacher Talk Support Learning?” Linguistics and Education 191: 132–148. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sinclair, John, and Michael Coulthard. 1975. Towards an Analysis of Discourse. The English used by Teachers and Pupils. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sparks, Lisa, and Melinda Villagran. 2010. Patient and Provider Interaction. A Global Health Communication Perspective. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Svennevig, Jan. 2008. “Exploring Leadership Conversations.” Management Communication Quarterly 21 (4): 529–536. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Houwen, Fleur. 2009. “Formulating Disputes.” Journal of Pragmatics 411: 2072–2085. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walsh, Steven. 2011. Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action. New York/London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (14)

Cited by 14 other publications

Bouwer, Renske, Marije van Braak & Chiel van der Veen
2024. Dialogic writing in the upper grades of primary school: How to support peer feedback conversations that promote meaningful revisions. Learning and Instruction 93 ► pp. 101965 ff. DOI logo
Farini, Federico & Angela Scollan
2023. What Is Facilitation?. In Pedagogical Innovation for Children's Agency in the Classroom, ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
Farini, Federico & Angela Scollan
2025. Facilitation of children’s agency as dialogic education: examples from practice and reflection on practice, including a critical comparison with neo-vygotskian methodologies. PRACTICE 7:3 ► pp. 241 ff. DOI logo
Amri, Marwa & Olcay Sert
2022. Establishing understanding during student-initiated between-desk instructions in project work. Cambridge Journal of Education 52:6 ► pp. 667 ff. DOI logo
Pulles, Maaike, Jan Berenst, Tom Koole & Kees de Glopper
2021. Text formulations as practices of demonstrating understanding in dialogic reading. Text & Talk 41:4 ► pp. 515 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2019. Using formulations to manage conflicts in classroom interactions. Language and Dialogue 9:2 ► pp. 193 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2019. Practices/1, Italy: Facilitating Participation in Early Childhood Education. In Children’s Self-determination in the Context of Early Childhood Education and Services [International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, 25], ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2021. Studying Hybrid Identities in Schools: Notes on a European Project. Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny 47:4 (182) ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2022. Researching Agency and Interaction: Methodological Considerations. In Facilitating Children's Agency in the Interaction [Studies in Childhood and Youth, ], ► pp. 95 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2022. Ways of Facilitating Children’ Agency. In Facilitating Children's Agency in the Interaction [Studies in Childhood and Youth, ], ► pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2022. Facilitation in the Education System. In Facilitating Children's Agency in the Interaction [Studies in Childhood and Youth, ], ► pp. 67 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2023. Structural variations of classroom interaction: implications for the education system. International Studies in Sociology of Education 32:3 ► pp. 740 ff. DOI logo
Baraldi, Claudio
2024. Facilitation of adolescents' agency and hybrid integration. Children & Society 38:2 ► pp. 365 ff. DOI logo
Solem, Marit Skarbø & Karianne Skovholt
2019. Teacher Formulations in Classroom Interactions. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 63:1 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue