Teacher Talk: Cognitive Goals Inferred from Instruction.

To suggest that activity in the classroom shift from a focus on memorizing procedures to using mathematical reasoning is to suggest a shift in the classroom environment accompanied by shifts in teacher talk. The task of this report was to introduce the idea of teachers' orienting behaviors aimed at facilitating student cognition, and to suggest that these behaviors might indicate cognitive goals that guide the teacher's decision making. To accomplish this task, results of an exploratory study of naturalistic data were reported. The question addressed was, "What does an observer infer about expectations of student cognitive activity from the teacher's talk and organization of instruction?" Three teachers from a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded study were selected two of the teachers were bilingual. Seventy hours of videotapes of whole class and small group instruction were examined for explicit or implied references to cognitive goals. Types of cognitive goals suggested by the data include: (1) developing and maintaining memory, (2) developing connections, (3) developing language, (4) monitoring of mathematical activity, and (5) developing mental operations. Orienting activities of the teachers in this study included both interacting and communicating. A list of 20 references is included. (MPN)