Neil Mercer is Emeritus Professor of Education at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Mercer grew up in

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, where he went to Cockermouth Grammar School before studying psychology at the University of Manchester. He has a PhD in

psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

from the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

. His research explores the role of dialogue in education and the development of children's reasoning.

Biography

He is Emeritus Professor of Education at the

, where he is also Director of the study Centre Oracy Cambridge and a Life Fellow of the college Hughes Hall. Prior to moving to the University of Cambridge, he was Director of the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

's Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technologies (CREET). and a member of the Centre for Language and Communications. He was previously co-editor of the journal Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, editor of the journal Learning and Instruction and the International Journal of Educational Research.

Research

Mercer has emphasised the use of language to "inter-think" and build "common knowledge" – shared understandings and perspectives to work together, particularly in classrooms.Edwards, Derek, and Neil Mercer. Common Knowledge: The Development of Understanding in the Classroom. London, UK: Routledge, 1987. From Common Knowledge onwards his work has been explicitly Vygotskian in nature, fitting into a wider sociocultural and

dialogic learning Dialogic learning is learning that takes place through dialogue. It is typically the result of egalitarian dialogue; in other words, the consequence of a dialogue in which different people provide arguments based on Validity (logic), validity claim ...

focus in education. (See e.g.) However, in contrast to

Lev Vygotsky Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (russian: Лев Семёнович Выго́тский, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; be, Леў Сямёнавіч Выго́цкі, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; – June 11, 1934) was a Soviet psychologist, known for his work on ps ...

Zone of Proximal Development The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a concept in educational psychology. It represents the distance between what a learner is capable of doing unsupported, and what they can only do supported. It is the range where they are capable only with ...

, Mercer proposes we consider the 'Intermental Development Zone'Mercer, Neil. Words & Minds: How We Use Language to Think Together. Oxon: Routledge, 2000. – the space that language creates which allows peers to interact and develop their reasoning together, in the absence of a guiding teacher. This work is cited as important in development of understanding of language for learning. Littleton, Karen, and Christine Howe. Educational Dialogues: Understanding and Promoting Productive Interaction. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Mercer's key interest is in the quality of talk and its impact on educational outcomes, including talk in the home for example, arguing that "'social interaction and collaborative activity' in class can provide 'valuable opportunities' for learning" and that classroom talk should be oriented around co-operation rather than competitiveness, to encourage exploratory talk rather than disputational where the former focuses on explaining ideas, listening to others, and the building of mutual understanding and the latter on a lack of constructive argument which is characterised by disagreement with little explanation.Mercer, Neil, and Karen Littleton. Dialogue and the Development of Children's Thinking: A Sociocultural Approach. New edition. Routledge, 2007 Research exploring this typology and its third component – cumulative talk, in which ideas are shared but not built upon or critically analysed – has found "evidence of the link between the development of children's communication skills and improvements in their critical thinking.", leading to the suggestion that there should be more focus on these skills in classrooms, and commensurately teacher education programs, including in the context of computer use. This approach has been termed (and researched under the banner of) "Thinking Together". This approach has been used internationally particularly in Mexico (see e.g.) and recently Chile. Mercer's research into the educationally salient components of discourse has been grounded in 'sociocultural discourse analysis' – a theory to which he has contributed.Mercer, Neil, and Karen Littleton. Dialogue and the Development of Children's Thinking: A Sociocultural Approach. New edition. Routledge, 2007. Sociocultural discourse analysis focuses on what language is used to do, and in Mercer's work, how it is used to share meaning, create common knowledge, and interthink.

References

External links

Thinkingtogether.educ.cam.ac.ukTes.co.uk
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English psychologists Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Leicester {{Authority control