Using formulations to manage conflicts in classroom interactions

In classroom interactions, facilitation of children’s autonomous choice of acting (agency) may produce conflicts among children. While facilitation does not have the function of managing these conflicts, it shares some types of action with conflict mediation, one of which is formulation. Formulation elaborates the gist of previous utterances and enhances interlocutors’ actions. This paper provides a qualitative analysis of nine transcribed sequences of interaction, included into five different programs of facilitation. The analysis shows that formulations fulfil two different functions. First (function of mediation), they are designed as developments of the gist of children’s utterances, enhancing stories of cooperation. Second (function of facilitation), they are designed as explications of the gist of children’s utterances, without enhancing cooperative stories.