Editor: Viv Edwards (University of Reading, UK)
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Volume: 17 Number: 5 Page: 332–354
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Taking Others' Perspectives in a Peer Interactional Setting while Preparing for a Written Argument
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Mona Gélat
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The virtues of inter-subjective peer interaction are acknowledged by educational research to be cognitively motivating. This paper highlights identified patterns of pupil perception observed during an experimental
study concerning 10-year-olds, who were supporting one another in small groups of three as they were verbally preparing for an argumentative writing task. Through transcripts of recorded talk, the account
exemplifies the perspective-taking strategies used by the participants to assist each other and make themselves understood. A social constructivist approach is taken in analysing the entailed mechanisms
and how they might have contributed to the subsequently written compositions. The paper suggests that perspective taking, experienced through peer interaction, can be an invaluable means of practising social
skills necessary for the improvement of cognitive competence, learning and remembering information in context to conform with written argument criteria.
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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