Chapter 12 page 262
When students are more in control of discussions, then teachers should ask more open-ended questions,
and fewer assessment questions. Teachers will ask frequently students what they think about ideas instead
of telling what they themselves think.
Control over topic. Second, teachers can give students more control over the topics under discussion.
Control of topic is complex, because topics exist at multiple levels. At one extreme, teachers may control
the topic to the extent that the exact words used by students are prescribed, as when students in the U.S.
recite the Pledge of Allegiance. At the opposite extreme, teachers may exert no control at all over the topic,
as when students are talking among themselves at recess. In between, there are many ways for teachers and
students to share control. In almost all discussion formats, teachers retain global control to ensure that
students stay on the general topic. Even in teacherless discussions, teachers set an expectation that the
discussion is to fall within certain boundaries. Different discussion formats differ largely in who has local
control--that is, control over exactly what to say moment by moment as the discussion proceeds. In
Recitations, students have little local control, as they are constrained to answer the questions posed by the
teacher. In discussions with more open participation, students have much more local control, since they are
free to respond to another student’s comment, ask a question, extend another student’s idea, or introduce
new topics.
When teachers control the topic, they ask a lot of questions, and the questions that they ask have only
one correct answer (or at least a limited number of correct answers). So students don’t have much control
over what to say.
When students have more control over the topic, we should see students starting up new topics that the
teacher didn’t first ask questions about.
Control over turntaking. Teachers can maintain complete control over turntaking by calling on
students to speak. In contrast, in peer-led discussions, the children themselves must regulate their own
turntaking. Teachers and students may also share responsibility for turntaking. For instance, a teacher
may allow students to speak without being called upon but intercede if some students monopolize the floor.
It is obviously easier to give up control over turntaking in small group discussions led by a teacher than in
whole-class discussions led by the teacher.
When teachers have control over turntaking, we should see (a) teachers choosing who gets to speak
next and (b) a teacher comment after every student comment. Teachers take about half the turns.
When students have more control over turntaking, we should see (a) fewer occasions in which the
teacher nominates the next speaker and (b) runs of turns in which students talk right after each other.
Students take well more than half of the turns.
When students have more control over turntaking, we may also see evidence that the students are more
likely to interrupt each other, and they may even be more likely to interrupt the teacher.
Of course, in many situations it may not be feasible for students to be in complete control over
turntaking. If students cannot manage their own turntaking well (e.g., they interrupt each other, and some
hog the floor), the teacher will need to assume at least some control over turntaking. (The teacher may also
want to teach students norms for turntaking and help them practice so that they can eventually assume
greater control themselves.)
B2. Proportion of Student Talk
Teachers talk a very large proportion of the time in recitations, often over 70% of the time. This leaves very
little opportunity for students to talk. Imagine a teacher who is leading a 20-minute recitation in a class
with 20 students. This teacher utters two thirds of all words in the discussion. In a recitation, there may be
about 70 words spoken per minute. Out of the 1400 words spoken in 20 minutes, the teacher is responsible
for 980 words, and the students utter just 420. On average, each of the students utters just 21 words, which
is 2% of the amount of talking that the teacher does.