Educational Psychology

8. The nature of classroom communication

Effective verbal communication...................................................................................................................

Communicating effectively requires using all forms of classroom talk in combinations appropriate for particular
utterances and interactions. In various places earlier in this book, we have suggested ways of doing so, though in
those places we usually did not frame the discussion around the term communication as such.

Effective content talk

In Chapter 8, for example, we suggested ways of talking about content so that it is most likely to be understood
clearly, but in that chapter we described these as instructional strategies. In explaining ideas, for example, whether
briefly or as a extended lecture, we pointed out that it helps to offer, in advance, organizing ideas, to relate new
content to prior knowledge, and to organize and elaborate on new information. In the same chapter, we also
suggested strategies about content talk intended for students, so that students understand their own thinking as
well as possible. We especially highlighted two ways of learning: inquiry learning and cooperative learning. Table
18summarizes instructional strategies both for students and for teachers, and indicates how they contribute to
effective verbal communication about content.

Table 18: Strategies for supporting content talk

Content talk by teachers

Strategy Definition How it helps communication

Using advance organizers Statements or ideas that give a

concise overview of new material

Orients students’ attention to

new ideas about to be learned;

assists in understanding and

remembering new material

Relating new material to prior

knowledge

Explicit connections of new ideas

to students’ existing knowledge

Facilitates discussion of new

material by making it more

meaningful to students

Elaborating and extending new

information

Explanations of new ideas in full,

complete terms

Avoids ambiguities and

misunderstandings about new ideas

or concepts

Organizing new information Providing and following a clear

structure when explaining new

material

Assists in understanding and

remembering new material

Content talk by students

Inquiry learning Students pursue problems that

they help to formulate for

themselves

To formulate and and investigate

a problem, students need to express

clearly what they wish to find out.

Cooperative learning Students work in small groups to To work together, students need

162