Online discussion in schools: Towards a pedagogical framework

In this paper, we draw on Bernstein's [1996. Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. London: Taylor and Francis] notion of framing of pedagogical communication to propose a framework for use in specific literacy contexts. Here, we illustrate how this framework has emerged from an examination of text response online discussions in the English/Language Arts curriculum in primary and secondary school contexts ostensibly concerned with the development of critical literacies. We focus on the selection of the literary texts and the prompts around those, the pacing and sequencing of the discussion, and the way in which responses are negotiated online. Using this framework in two specific contexts, we find that the more mediated, but less interactive framing in one institutional context tends to support the development of desired critical literacy practices, while the less mediated but more interactive framing of the online discussions in the second context is less supportive of such literacy practices. We suggest that this analytical framework could be adapted for use in a range of online contexts in order to make more visible the extent to which the intended forms of literacy are realised and which interactional affordances are exploited in the process.