Reading together: The interplay between social and cognitive aspects in argumentative and non-argumentative dialogues

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to consider the intertwining of social and cognitive aspects of learning through interactive activities, in order to explore how the two aspects are interrelated in children's joint work. Focusing on participants' talk while they are asked to solve together a reading comprehension task and to agree on a joint answer, we highlight the ways in which the process of dialogical construction of a common answer is influenced by social and cognitive factors. In particular, we problematize the interplay of multiple aspects (cognitive, personal, interpersonal) that structure interactions among peers in order to focus on the regulation of social relations during children's discussions and its interplay with cognitive dimensions of joint task solving. We show how solving reading comprehension tasks through peer interactions appears as a complex and dynamic phenomenon shaped by the interplay of cognitive, social and personal aspects.