Examining booktalks on authentic classroom discussion

Hadjioannou, X., & Townsend, J. S. (2015). Examining booktalks to shed light on authentic classroom discussion. Classroom Discourse, 6(3), 198-220.

Background

Research indicated that authentic, dialogic classroom discussions had a positive impact on students’ overall learning and school performance. Authentic discussions are defined as classroom interactions in which speakers seek genuinely dialogic purposes, such as inviting different opinions, and considering various perspectives.

Aims

The study sought to investigate the quality of talk during the booktalks of a fifth-grade classroom, focussing particularly on the authentic discussion segments.

Sample

The participants were 24 fifth-grade students in an elementary school in Florida and the classroom teacher was purposively selected as she could facilitate dialogic talk.

Method

An ethnographic case study was undertaken to examine a naturally occurring phenomenon in a discursive classroom setting. One author was a participant observer for five months. She observed a 60-minute language arts period daily and talked to participants regularly, but participated minimally in whole-class conversations. Data also included four sessions of focal participant interviews and 11 classroom audio- and video-recorded sessions, fieldnotes and verbatim transcriptions.

Findings

The authors examined the number of utterances and the students’ contribution patterns. There was a ratio of three to two between student and teacher utterances, indicating that the teacher did not speak after every student utterance. The results indicated a wide range of student participation, and there were a high number of occurrences when students offered their contributions voluntarily to the interaction. There were 13 teacher moves, and nine student moves, making a total of 22 moves. However, the nine student moves matched nine of the teacher moves and were based on the models she had given of what she perceived as appropriate types of talk. The nine student moves indicated a significant departure from recitation classroom discourse. In the discussions, the teacher reduced her moves to providing information and to setting themes while students increased their moves to providing information, connecting with the written text, reflecting and expressing opinion.

Implications

The authors recommended three major foci in realising authentic discussions: stance, linguistic behaviour, and community. A teacher stance of openness and curiosity about students’ thoughts and feelings will encourage creativity, active participation and the co-construction of knowledge. In terms of linguistic behaviour, teachers need to refrain from talking extensively and must limit their participation in the interaction. However, they should support students during discussions by reiterating students’ ideas and through scaffolding. A sense of community to support and affirm each other’s contributions is also essential.

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