Turn taking, repair and topic practices in teaching assistant led literacy intervention sessions

This research explored the learning experiences of pupils during literacy intervention sessions in English primary schools, by examining the moment-by-moment interactions between teaching assistants and pupils. Teaching assistants have taken increasing responsibility for teaching and learning, including the teaching of group intervention sessions aimed at supporting those pupils not making expected progress in literacy. The effectiveness of any intervention is reliant on the moment-by-moment interactions as social-constructivist theory indicates that it is in these interactions that shared meaning is negotiated and scaffolding provided. However, there is a lack of research into how this occurs in the interactions between teaching assistants and pupils generally, and specifically during these intervention sessions.
The research took a multiple-case study approach. Fine grained linguistic analysis of observation based empirical data in the form of video recordings of intervention sessions provided the basis for theory development. This was done through the analytical framework of conversation analysis, situated within the broader field of linguistic ethnography.
The research identified that interactions are strongly focused on the organisational principles of the task and task completion, rather than developing the learning experiences of individual pupils and the group. Teaching assistants provide high levels of support, leading to potential pupil reliance on this support due to a lack of development of interactional and metacognitive skills for self and reciprocal scaffolding.
The research has implications for policy in relation to provision for pupils who are falling behind in literacy. It is argued that a theory of oral pedagogy needs to be developed which can be used to clarify the pedagogical role of the teaching assistant, and there needs to be continuing professional development for teaching assistants in order to improve the quality of their moment-by-moment interactions with pupils.