Peer interactions in the primary classroom

The present research focuses on peer interactions engaged with the accomplishment of learning activities in the primary classroom. It is driven by the interest and need to understand learning and social interaction taking place in peer group-s, and how the participants orient to the sequential organization of social interaction. The research draws on audio and video data stemming from the primary classroom in Luxembourg, and aims at 1) describing and analyzing the interactional organization of learning activities, 2) describing and analyzing the resources and methods, i.e. expert-novice-practices mobilized by young learners when orienting to the accomplishment of a learning activity, and 3) describing the opportunities for participation and for learning that may take place when learners orient to the accomplishment of a learning activity in peer interaction.
Peer interaction is depicted as one form of a community of practice within which learning is situated and observable as learners in and through the deployment of expert-novice-practices orient to, and adapt to micro-shifts in the participation framework when accomplishing a learning activity. Results point to the fact that not only are expert-novice-practices deployed when young learners work in interaction, but these practices are also found to be inextricably linked to the constitution of expert-novice identities - this again has implications for how the learners orient to the accomplishment of a learning activity.