This study examines the use of narrative and paradigmatic modes of explanation in large group discussions about science in preschool classrooms. Participants comprised students and teachers in 29 preschool classrooms, 19 of which used the ScienceStart! curriculum, a hands-on, inquiry approach to teaching science with young children. Analyses of…

This article describes how students in the second language classroom claim incipient speakership and establish recipiency with a co-participant before the turn is properly initiated. The resources used by the incipient speaker include in-breaths and body movements. The article shows that when the teacher's turn is designed as not to pre-establish…

Yes-No (Y/N) questions are distinctive in calling for a bipolar response. Some Y/N questions predispose one answer over the other. Conversation analysts have examined the sequential relevance of this predisposition and found the institutional character of social actions enacted in Y/N questioning processes. Classroom interaction is one such…