English Language Teaching in its Social Context

262 PAULINE GIBBONSText 1.1Hannah: try . . . the other wayPatrick: like thatHannah: north pole facing downJoanna: we tried thatPeter: oh!Hannah: it stays up!Patrick: magic!Peter: let’s show thc othersJoanna: mad!Peter:Patrick:Peter:I’ll put north pole facing north pole . . . see what happenthat’s what we just didyeah . . . like this . . . lookThe dialogue continues for several minutes longer as the students ty clgerent positions for the magnet,and then they begin to formulate an explanation.Text 1.2Hannah: can I try that? . . . I know why . . . I know why . . . that’s like . . . because the northPeter:pole is on this side and that north pole’s there . . . so they don’t stick togetherwhat like this? yeahHannah: yeah see because the north pole on this side . but turn it on the other . . . this sidelike that . . . turn it that way . . . yeahPeter: and it will stickHannah: and it will stick because. look . . . the north pole’s on that side because . . .Peter: the north pole’s on that side yeahStage 2The overall aim of the teacher-guided reporting was to extend children’s linguistic resourcesand focus on aspects of the specific discourse of science. As the teacher expressed it tothe children: we’re tying to talk like scientists. It was anticipated that the reporting stagewould create a context for students to ‘rehearse’ language structures which were closerto written discourse. Before the reporting began, there had been a short teacher-leddiscussion focusing on the specific lcxis the children would need to use, including the lexicalitem repel.In the text below (Text 2), Hannah is explaining what she learned.Text 2STUDENTS1TEACHERtry to tell them what you learned . . .OK . . . (to Hannah) yes?