Scaffolds or straitjackets? Critical moments in classroom discourse

This article explores how teachers use talk to scaffold pupil learning by examining ‘critical moments’ in whole‐class teaching contexts. The critical moments represent those points in a lesson where something a child or teacher says creates a moment of choice or opportunity for the teacher, and the article examines teachers' responses to these moments. The article will illustrate how instead of acting as a temporary supporting scaffold, many teaching strategies or teacher–pupil interactions act as a heavy prompt or even as a straitjacket upon pupil learning. In particular, the teacher's emphasis upon ensuring that children are introduced to key concepts or topics sometimes means that the movement to independent learning is not achieved and the ‘scaffold’ becomes a means of control rather than of temporary guidance.