Patterns of Interaction in University Tutorials: A Framework for Analyzing Interaction in Tutorials
Abigail Hlatshwayo

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to report on the framework used to analyse the tutorial data quantitatively by first determining the number of discourse acts and turns and by also analysing the quality as the framework postulates certain acts and turns as constituting more effective participation than others. The analytical framework developed involved a combination of a specific set of discourse acts derived from Crombie (1985) and Hubbard (1998) and turn categories based on Van Lier (1988) and these were explained with examples from the tutorial data of the present study. Using an integrated framework to explore differences in’ participation effectiveness’, (i.e. the quantity of speaker discourse acts and turns and speaker initiative at discourse act and turn taking levels) between first and third-year students and between male and female students in male-led and female-led tutorials revealed that third-year students participated more effectively than first-years and that the males in male-led tutorials used more discourse acts than females, while females in female-led tutorials did better than the males.

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