The social accomplishment of transition: Investigating classroom talk practices as students move from primary to secondary school

The complex nature of primary to secondary school transition has interested educators and researchers for many years. While it is acknowledged that experiences of schooling during this time are often challenging and problematic for students, very little is known about the day-to-day actions of accomplishing transition. There exists an absence of empirical work investigating the everyday practices of students and teachers in establishing how transition is socially produced in real time. This research examines transition-in-action by employing ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to explore transition as interactionally accomplished in classroom lessons. Through the detailed analysis of classroom talk-in-interaction during lessons at the end of Year 6 and the beginning of the following Year 7, an account of the unfolding nature of transition is provided. In this way, the research contributes understandings of how transition is socially organised and accomplished in the study of the talk practices of its participants, and how such practices are used by students as interactional resources as they transition to secondary school.