Chapter 12 page 261
Much existing research suggests that Recitations remain worldwide the most common form of teacher-led
discourse. However, as usually practiced, Recitations lack four key characteristics that are important for
promoting student learning and motivation. Specifically:
- In Recitations, students have little control over the discourse.
- In Recitations, students do little of the talking.
- In Recitations, teachers usually ask low-level questions.
- In Recitations, teachers tend not to provide much structure that helps students integrate ideas.
I will elaborate on each of these points in the next section.
B. Characteristics of Productive Discussions
Teachers would like to hold discussions that engage students’ interest and that promote learning.
Amazingly, despite the fact that class discussions are one of the most common classroom activities—
perhaps the most common—we know relatively little about how students learn from discussion or what
they think about different kinds of discussions. However, existing research supports the idea that
discussions that promote learning and motivation have four characteristics, which are the opposite of the
characteristics listed above as common features of recitations. These four characteristics are:
- Students have control over important aspects of the discourse.
- Students do well over half of the talking.
- Teachers pose higher order, thought-provoking questions.
- Teachers provide structure that helps students see what was accomplished in the discussion.
I will discuss each of these characterstics below.
B1. Student Control and Open Participation
Discussions that give greater control to students are often described as having more open participation.
Under open participation, the teacher cedes considerable control to the students. The children may not have
to raise their hands and be acknowledged by the teacher in order to speak, and overlapping speech is
sometimes allowed. Importantly, students have control over the content of what is said. Au and Mason
(1981) and Chinn and Anderson (2001) found that under open participation the children performed better
on several measures of quantity and quality of discussion contributions.
Teachers can increase student control over discussions in at least three ways: by increasing students’
control over interpretation, by increasing students’ control over topic, and by increasing students control
over turntaking. When students have more control over one or more of these aspects of the discussion,
they will feel a greater sense of autonomy, which should of course enhance their motivation.
Control over interpretation. First, teachers can give students more control over interpretation. In
recitations, teachers ask questions and accept only those answers that they believe to be right; this means
that the teacher has complete interpretive authority. When students evaluate each others’ statements for
accuracy or plausibility, without guidance from the teacher, then students hold interpretive authority.
When teachers control interpretation, we should see teachers asking lots of assessment questions (that
is, questions that the teacher knows the answer to). We should also see clear evidence that teachers are
evaluating students’ answers.