Conversation theory

Conversation theory is a pedagogical, dialectical, and cybernetic framework that examines conversation, cognition and learning in the context of two conversational participants who attempt to establish what is meant by a topic during a conversation. In effect, each participant attempts to converge towards a common understanding with the other as to the significance of the said topic between themselves. The theory provides a formal dialectical framework that examines how conversational participants may modulate the conceptualisation processes of each participant throughout a conversational interaction.

A conversational interaction is characterised as a shared learning process: Each participant takes turns within the interaction—switching at intervals between the role of a student or the role of a teacher—to achieve a state of mutual understanding between themselves. In this sense, the theory concerns itself with how two a priori asynchronous cognitive systems—either mechanical or organic in nature—are able to converse and conceptualise about a topic, in such a way that each system achieves the a posteriori synchronization of each cognitive system's particular perspective or attitude towards said topic. This resultant synchronization allows each conversational participant to satisfy some shared task or goal.

Conversation theory provides an experimental framework that heavily utilizes both human-computer interaction frameworks and computer-theoretic models, in order to create a testable framework explaining how conversational interactions may lead to the emergence of shared knowledge between participants. The theory was developed by Gordon Pask, who worked with Bernard Scott, Dionysius Kallikourdis, Robin McKinnon-Wood, and others during its initial development and implementation. With Ranulph Glanville and Paul Pangaro also contributing to the application and implementation of the framework in subsequent periods.