Teachers’ instructional practices during pupils’ individual seatwork in Norwegian Language arts

Abstract

This study examines teachers’ instructional practices during seatwork in primary Norwegian Language arts classrooms. Although seatwork is a common activity in classrooms, our knowledge about what teachers actually do during this activity is limited. In this qualitative study, six teachers in third grade primary school were videotaped while pupils worked individually. The study gives examples from writing instruction. An analytical framework was developed based on existing research and used for coding of the video data. The analyses reveal that the participating teachers utilised their time during seatwork very differently. Two of the six teachers spent a majority of the time on instructional support (for instance challenging pupils’ thinking), while the other four spent the majority of the time on organizational support (for instance practical help) or monitoring (for instance listening to pupil read). Emotional support was almost non-existent in these classrooms. Teachers’ use of challenging versus telling as a way of supporting pupils is a key difference among the observed teachers.