Cover not available
Article published In:
Language and Dialogue
Vol. 9:2 (2019) ► pp.193–216

Using formulations to manage conflicts in classroom interactions

| University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy)

In classroom interactions, facilitation of children’s autonomous choice of acting (agency) may produce conflicts among children. While facilitation does not have the function of managing these conflicts, it shares some types of action with conflict mediation, one of which is formulation. Formulation elaborates the gist of previous utterances and enhances interlocutors’ actions. This paper provides a qualitative analysis of nine transcribed sequences of interaction, included into five different programs of facilitation. The analysis shows that formulations fulfil two different functions. First (function of mediation), they are designed as developments of the gist of children’s utterances, enhancing stories of cooperation. Second (function of facilitation), they are designed as explications of the gist of children’s utterances, without enhancing cooperative stories.

Keywords: classroom interaction, facilitation, conflict mediation, formulations, cooperation, reframing
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Facilitation of dialogue and conflict management
  • 3.The corpus of data
  • 4.Formulating to mediate conflicts
  • 5.Formulating to facilitate conflicts
  • 6.General discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 12 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00038.bar
References

References

Baraldi, Claudio
2012 “Participation, facilitation and mediation in educational interactions.” In Participation, Facilitation, and Mediation. Children and Young People in their Social Context, ed. by Claudio Baraldi and Vittorio Iervese, 66–86. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2014a “Children’s participation in communication systems: A theoretical perspective to shape research.” In Soul of Society: A Focus on the Life of Children and Youth, ed. by Nicole Warehime, 63–92. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014b “Formulations in dialogic facilitation of classroom interactions.” Language and Dialogue 4(2): 234–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio and Federico Farini
2011 “Dialogic Mediation in International Groups of Adolescents.” Language and Dialogue 1(2): 207–232. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio and Vittorio Iervese
2010 “Dialogic mediation in conflict resolution education.” Conflict Resolution Quarterly 27(4): 423–445. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Observing children’s capabilities as agency.” In Children’s rights and the capability approach. Challenges and prospects, ed. by Daniel Stöcklin and Jean-Michel Bonvin, 43–65. Dodrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
2017 “Narratives of memories and dialogues in multicultural classrooms.” Narrative Inquiry 27(2): 398–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio and Elisa Rossi
2011 “Promotion of participation and mediation in multicultural classrooms.” Irish Educational Studies 30(3): 383–401. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Black, Laura
2008 “Deliberation, storytelling, and dialogic moments.” Communication Theory 181: 93–116. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bush, Robert A. Baruch and Joseph P. Folger
1994 The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict through Empowerment and Recognition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Cloke, Kenneth
2013 The Dance of Opposites. Explorations in Mediation, Dialogue and Conflict Resolution Systems. Dallas: Goodmedia Press.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Robyn, Anne Graham, Anne Smith, and Nicola Taylor
2010 “Children’s participation as a struggle over recognition: exploring the promise of dialogue.” In A Handbook of Children’s and Young People’s Participation. Perspectives from Theory and Practice, ed. by Barry Percy-Smith and Nigel Thomas, 293–305. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Garcia, Angela Cora
2012 “Advice-giving and disputant empowerment in divorce mediation sessions”. Language and Dialogue 2(3): 398–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garcia, Angela Cora, Kristie Vise, and Stephen Paul Whitaker
2002 “Disputing neutrality: A case study of a bias complaint during mediation.” Conflict Resolution Quarterly 20(2): 205–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giddens, Anthony
1984 The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Anne and Robyn Fitzgerald
2010 “Progressing children’s participation: Exploring the potential of a dialogical turn.” Childhood 17(3): 342–359. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heisterkamp, Brian
2006 “Conversational displays of mediator neutrality in a court based program.” Journal of Pragmatics 381: 2051–2064. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hendry, Richard
2009 Building and Restoring Respectful Relationships in Schools. London: Routledge.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
Heritage, John and Steve Clayman
2010 Talk in Action. Interactions, Identities, and Institutions. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heritage, John and Rod Watson
1979 “Formulations as conversational objects.” In Everyday Language, ed. by George Psathas, 123–162. New York: Irvington Press.Google Scholar
Hill, Malcolm, John Davis, Alan Prout, and Kay Tisdall
2004 “Moving the participation agenda forward.” Children & Society 18 (2): 77–96. DOI logoGoogle 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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 The Discourse of Child Counselling. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle 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
Leonard, Madeleine
2016 The Sociology of Children, Childhood and Generation. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luhmann, Niklas
1995 Social Systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
2002 Das Erziehungssystem der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt a.M.: Surhrkamp.Google Scholar
Mayer, Bernard
2000 The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Mehan, Hugh
1979 Learning Lessons. Cambridge (Ma): Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mulchay, Linda
2001 “The Possibilities and Desirability of Mediator Neutrality – Towards an Ethic of Partiality?” Social & Legal Studies 10(4): 505–527. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Connor, Mary 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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oswell, David
2013 The Agency of Children. From Family to Global Human Rights. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Percy-Smith, Barry
2018 “Participation as learning for change in everyday spaces: Enhancing meaning and effectiveness using action research.” In Theorising Childhood. Citizenship, Rights and Participation, ed. by Claudio Baraldi and Tom Cockburn, 159–186. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Picard, Cheryl and Kenneth Melchin
2007 “Insight mediation: A learning-centered mediation model.” Negotiation Journal 23(1): 35–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shier, Harry
2001 “Pathways to participation: openings, opportunities and obligations.” Children & Society 15 (2): 107–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 “Pathways to participation’ revisited. Learning from Nicaragua’s child coffee workers.” In A Handbook of Children’s and Young People’s Participation. Perspectives from Theory and Practice, ed. by Barry Percy-Smith and Nigel Thomas, 215–229. London: Routledge.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
Stewart, Katherine A. and Madeline M. Maxwell
2010 Storied Conflict Talk. Narrative Construction of Mediation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stokoe, Elisabeth and Rein Sikveland
2016 “Formulating solutions in mediation.” Journal of Pragmatics 1051: 101–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van der Houwen, Fleur
2009 “Formulating disputes.” Journal of Pragmatics 411: 2072–2085. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Steve
2011 Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Winslade, John and Gerard Monk
2008 Practicing Narrative Mediation: Loosening the Grip of Conflict. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Winslade, John and Michael Williams
2011 Safe and Peaceful Schools: Addressing Conflict and Eliminating Violence. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.Google Scholar
Wyness, Michael
2013 “Children’s participation and intergenerational dialogue: bringing adults back into the analysis.” Childhood 20 (4): 429–442. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

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. Researching Agency and Interaction: Methodological Considerations. In Facilitating Children's Agency in the Interaction [Studies in Childhood and Youth, ], ► pp. 95 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 may 2023. 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.