Publications
Publication details [#56022]
Farini, Federico. 2012. Observing the paradox: Interrogative-negative questions as cues for a monophonic promotion of polyphony in educational practices. In Lorda, Clara and Patrick Zabalbeascoa, eds. Spaces of Polyphony. (Dialogue Studies 15). John Benjamins. pp. 87–100.
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Annotation
Many pedagogical publications (Hengst & Zeiher 2005, Walsh 2011) offer prescriptive resources to empower children’s voices in educational practices, placing particular emphasis on children’s self-realization and agency. However, none of them discusses the results of the empirical application of their theoretical prescriptions. This paper analyzes interactions taken from an educational project addressed to empower children’s skills in managing social contexts, particularly with respect to conflict management. It focuses on a specific sequence of actions, “educators’ interrogative-negative questions/children’s answers.” This sequence is a contextualization cue working at various discourse levels, including intertextuality, for a specific culture of education. Specifically, it foregrounds the paradox of a monophonic promotion of polyphony where, besides promotional intentions, education selects meanings, criteria and values, binding children’s actions and choices to them.