| Despite the fact that a number of researchers from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives have claimed that negotiation in dialogue is fundamental in learning, little research has been based on a precise notion of what negotiation is and how it relates to learning. This paper describes a model for negotiation, based on analysis of teacher-student and learner-learner dialogues. After discussion of illustrative examples and review of related research, negotiations are defined in terms of four features : what is being negotiated, the initial and final states of negotiation, and negotiation processes themselves. The paper concentrates on negotiation processes, for which a model is developed based on a set of communicative acts and a set of different types of relations between offered propositions. It is argued that the propositional attitude most relevant to negotiation dialogues is acceptance rather than belief , a claim that has implications for student modelling approaches based on the latter concept. In conclusion, it is claimed that negotiation plays the following principal roles in teaching-learning dialogues : coordinating problem-solving and communicative action, establishing mutual understanding with respect to possible solutions and co-constructing agreed solutions themselves. |
