The application of three exotropic theories in education

Abstract

The complementary theories of Vygotsky, Halliday, and Bernstein are applicable in all fields of human activity. Our interest is in the education field, specifically pedagogy for marginalized students. In analyzing classroom interactions, we draw on all three theories. From these comes an understanding of the broadest goals of education, that is culture and social inclusion, and the central role of language in participation in activity systems. In this paper, we expand on the aspects of the complementary theories drawn on for our work. Through extracts of classroom dialogue, we demonstrate how the theories support our tracking of effective pedagogy.