Abstract
For either to be useful, links between research and practice are critical. Just as important are connections between the practice of students engaged in mathematical activity and research that seeks to understand that practice. This research report explores lessons that researchers and practitioners can learn from an inquiry into the interlocution of students working collaboratively in small groups when engaged in talking and listening to each other. We use the term interlocution to denote discursive practices of learners in conversational exchanges. Questions that motivate this research included the following. What discursive practices do interlocutors employ as they work collaboratively to understand and resolve mathematical tasks? How do these practices influence the growth of their mathematical ideas? In what ways do their discursive practices help them move from a contextualized, situated task to generalize the task or their solution? Do students' discursive practices assist them to connect and generalize ideas from a new problem to others on which they have worked?