Conversation theory is a cybernetic approach to the study of conversation, cognition and learning that may occur between two participants who are engaged in conversation with each other. It presents an experimental framework heavily utilizing human-computer interactions and computer theoretic models as a means to present a scientific theory explaining how conversational interactions lead to the emergence of knowledge between participants. The theory was developed by Gordon Pask, who credits Bernard Scott, Dionysius Kallikourdis, Robin McKinnon-Wood, and others during its initial development and implementation as well as Paul Pangaro during subsequent years.
Overview
Conversation theory may be described as a formal theory of conversational process, as well as a theoretical methodology concerned with concept-forming and concept-sharing between conversational participents. It may be viewed as a framework that may be used to examine learning and development through the means of conversational techniques by means of human-machine interactions; the results of which may then inform approaches to education, educational psychology, and epistemology. While the framework is interpretable as a psychological framework with educational applications (specifically, as a general framework to think about teaching and learning), Pask's motivation in developing the theory has been interpreted by some who closely worked with him develop upon certain theoretical concerns regarding the nature of cybernetic inquiry.
The theory has been noted to have been influenced by a variety of psychological, pedagogical and philosophical influences such as Lev Vygotsky, R. D. Laing and George H. Mead. With some authors suggesting that the kind of human-machine learning interactions documented in conversation theory to be mirroring Vygotsky's descriptions of the zone of proximal development, and his descriptions of spontaneous and scientific concepts.
The theory prioritizes learning and teaching approaches related to education. A central idea of the theory is that learning occurs through conversations: For if participant A is to be conscious with participant B of a topic of inquiry, both participants must be able to converse with each other about that topic. Because of this, participants engaging in a discussion about a subject matter make their knowledge claims explicit through the means of such conversational interactions.
The theory is concerned with a variety of "psychological, linguistic, epistemological, social or non-commitally mental events of which there is awareness". Awareness in this sense is not of a person-specific type, i.e., it is not necessarily localized in a single participant. Instead, the type of awareness examined in conversation theory is the kind of joint awareness that may be shared between entities. While there is an acknowledgment of its similarities to phenomenology, the theory extends its analysis to examine cognitive processes. However, the concept of cognition is not viewed as merely being confined to an individual's brain or central nervous system. Instead, cognition may occur at the level of a group of people (leading to the emergence of social awareness), or may characterize certain types of computing machines.
Initial results from the theory lead to a distinction in the type of learning strategies participants used during the learning process; whereby students in general gravitated towards holistic or serialist learning strategies (with the optimal mixture producing a versatile learning strategy).
Conversation
Following Hugh Dubberly and Paul Pangaro, a conversation in the context of conversation theory involves an exchange between two participants whereby each participant is contextualized as a learning system whose internal states are changed through the course of the conversation. What can be discussed through conversation, i.e., topics of discussion, are said to belong to a conversational domain.
Conversation is distinguished from the mere exchange of information as seen in information theory, by the fact that utterances are interpreted within the context of a given perspective of such a learning system. Each participant's meanings and perceptions change during the course of a conversation, and each participant can agree to commit to act in certain ways during the conversation. In this way, conversation permits not only learning but also collaboration through participants coordinating themselves and designating their roles through the means of conversation.