Abstract
This review article is concerned with the structural view of communication in school. It is not primarily concerned with the study of communication networks between the participants in communication, but with the structural elements of verbal communication itself.
The article is divided into two basic parts. The first is devoted to empirical research studies of the structure of classroom communication conducted in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in the period 1968 -2015.
The second part summarises selected foreign research studies carried out in the years 1975 - 2015. Studies were chosen that were likewise interested in communication structures, and specifi cally structures of the IRF (Initiation - Response - Feedback) and IRE (Initiation - Response - Evaluation) type.
A total of 49 studies published in English were surveyed. The article sought to answer the following questions: Which researchers first identifi ed the IRF/IFE structure and in what context? Under what conditions and from what perspective was this structure identified? Did other researchers propose modifications to this structure? What are the views of the specialist community on the research application of this structure? What other communication structures were later identified in classroom communication? The article concludes by off ering some outline recommendations on how investigation of the course and results of classroom communication at Czech primary and secondary schools might be newly conceived.