- UCAS course code
- X300
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Science (BSc)
BSc Education
Become a leading educational researcher in any education related career you choose; innovating and evolving the field globally.
- Typical A-level offer: ABB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £29,000 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
We are committed to attracting and supporting the very best students from all backgrounds to study this course.
You could be eligible for cash bursaries of up to £2,500 to support your studies.
Find out about our funding opportunities
Course unit details:
Classroom Communication and Learning
Unit code | EDUC31052 |
---|---|
Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
This unit takes an active seminar discussion approach to understanding and evaluating the role of communication in learning. Socio-cultural approaches are applied to classroom practice in order to engage students with practical evaluation activities around the role of communication in learning. The unit uses video examples from a range of classroom contexts as input for group discussion and reflection. As befits a unit exploring learning through classroom communication, students will be supported as they gain confidence in oral seminar discussion through sharing their own perspectives and understandings during reflective group talk.
Pre/co-requisites
Via Blackboard
Aims
This unit aims to:
- enhance students understanding of the specialised nature of communication and language in the classroom environment
- enable students to understand the role of communication in fostering children's learning
- provide students with increased knowledge and understanding for analysing spoken language in the classroom
Teaching and learning methods
The core strategy for teaching and learning in this module is small group seminar discussion. Directed collaborative discussion activities will use a wide variety of video examples of classroom communication as the basis for group interpretation and evaluation articulating how socio-cultural perspectives can be observed in classroom practice. In-person attendance at the weekly module seminars will be strongly encouraged as this will contribute to effective learning by building depth of understanding and learning in this unit. The seminar discussion prompts will explicitly direct the oral exploration of concepts of theoretical and applied learning around the role of communication in classroom learning.
Individual students will keep a weekly reflective log based on a directed classroom video. These weekly reflections will form the substance for the formal essay assessment task. This task will be an independent activity with the appropriate video resource accessible through Blackboard.
Knowledge and understanding
- Evaluate the effectiveness of different forms of classroom communication in supporting children’s learning.
- Apply socio-cultural understanding to evaluation of observed examples of classroom communication practice.
- Understand the role of an individual’s language experiences in extending/hindering their classroom learning.
Intellectual skills
- Apply current research perspectives to understanding pupil learning in a language rich classroom context
- Explain how the study of language/communication is relevant to effective collaborative learning in the classroom
- Develop reflective and evaluative skills in interpreting classroom communication practice.
Practical skills
- Develop confidence in the evaluation of language and learning observed in video classroom examples
- Critically reflect on their own experience of learning/teaching and the function of collaborative activities in learning through shared talk.
- Develop personal confidence in contributing to reflective and analytical seminar discussion.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Engage in active seminar discussion applying theoretical understanding to interpret classroom practice on issues relevant to language and education.
- Use a weekly reflective journal to extend individual skills in video observation and evaluation
- Building confident skills to listen to and evaluate the understanding and knowledge of others in group discussion.
Assessment methods
Method | Weight |
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Written assignment (inc essay) | 70% |
Oral assessment/presentation | 30% |
Recommended reading
- Agarwal, P. K. (2019). Retrieval practice & Bloom’s taxonomy: Do students need fact knowledge before higher order learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(2), 189–209
- Alexander, R. (2017) (5th ed) Towards Dialogic Teaching: rethinking classroom talk. Dialogos ISBN: 9780954694333.
- Alexander, R (2020 in press) A Dialogic Teaching Companion London: Routledge
- Arnot, M., & Reay, D. (2007). A sociology of pedagogic voice: Power, inequality and pupil consultation. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 28(3), 311-325.
- Aubry, K. & Riley, A. (2015) Understanding and Using Educational Theories. London: Sage
- Barnes, D. (1976) From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Penguin
- Barnes, D. and Todd, F. (1995) Communication and Learning Revisited: Making Meaning Through Talk. Portsmouth, N.H: Boynton/Cook Publishers Inc.
- Bates, B. (2015) Learning Theories Simplified: and how to apply them to teaching. London: Sage
- Bearne, E; Dombey, H and Grainger, T. (2003) Classroom Interactions in Literacy. Maidenhead: Open University Press
- Brice-Heath, S., (1983) Ways with words Cambridge:CUP
- Bruner, J. (1977). Early social interaction and language acquisition. In R. Schaffer (Ed.), Studies in
- mother–infant interaction (pp. 271–289). New York: Academic.
- Bruner, J. (1983) Child’s talk. Learning to use language. London, Oxford University Press
- Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
- Edwards, D. and Mercer, N. (1987) Common Knowledge: The Development of Understanding in the Classroom. London: Routledge.
- EEF (2017) evaluation of CPRT/Uni of York study Improving children’s learning through dialogic teaching https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Projects/Evaluation_Reports/Dialogic_Teaching_Evaluation_Report.pdf
- Goodman, S; Lillis, T; Maybin, J & Mercer, N. (2003) Language, Literacy and Education: A Reader. Open University Press
- Gregory, E., (1996) Making Sense of a New World London:Paul Chapman
- Gregory, E., & Williams, A., (2000) City Literacies Learning to read across generations and cultures London:Routledge
- Hopwood, L., (2012) Encountering English Education: The experiences of newly arrived teenage migrants in monolingual English schools and colleges. PhD thesis University of Manchester uk.bl.ethos.575162
- Littleton, K & Mercer, N (2013) Interthinking: Putting talk to work London: Routledge
- Littleton, K.(2013) Educational Dialogue in Holliman, A. (ed) The Routledge International Companion to Educational Psychology chapter 7 London: Routledge
- Mercer, N. (1995) The Guided Construction of Knowledge. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
- Mercer, N. (1996) The quality of talk in children’s collaborative activity in the classroom Learning and Instruction Vol6;issue4;pp359-377
- Mercer, N. (2000) Words and Minds: How we use Language to Think Together. London: Routledge
- Mercer, N. (2010) The Analysis of Classroom Talk: Methods and Methodologies. British Journal of Educational Psychology 80, p.1-14
- Mercer, N (2019) Language and the Joint Creation of Knowledge London: Routledge
- Mercer, N., Wegeriff, R., Major, L. eds(2019) The Routledge International Handbook of Research on Dialogic Education London: Routledge
- Mercer, N & Littleton, K. (2007) Dialogue and the development of children's thinking: a sociocultural approach. London: Routledge
- Mercer, N & Hodgkinson, S. (2008) Exploring talk in school. London: Sage
- Myhill, D; Jones, S and Hopper,
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
---|---|
Lectures | 24 |
Seminars | 16 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 160 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Lise Hopwood | Unit coordinator |
Sophina Choudry | Unit coordinator |