To examine discussion skills

Aim

To examine discussion skills.

A reflective teacher may find it useful to consider some of the following questions:

Do the participants take turns or do they frequently talk over each other or interrupt?

Do they invite contributions, re-direct contributions for further comments, give encouragement?

Do they listen to each other?  Are they willing to learn from each other (i.e. respond and react to each other's contributions)?

Do they indulge in 'parallel' talk (i.e. continue their own line of thinking)?

Does conflict emerge or is harmony maintained?

Is conflict positively handled?

• by modifying statements, rather than just reasserting them?
• by examining assumptions, rather than leaving them implicit?
• by explaining/accounting for claims?

Do participants elaborate their contributions?

• by giving details of events, people, feelings?
• by providing reasons, explanations, examples?

Do they extend ideas?

• by asking for specific information?
• by asking for clarification?

Do they explore suggestions?

• by asking for alternatives?
• by speculating, imagining and hypothesizing?

Do they evaluate?

• by pooling ideas and suspending judgement before making choices?

More in this chapter

• To investigate who speaks and how much during a lesson
• To identify question and response patterns in a lesson
• To investigate teacher's handling of students' responses within 'question and answer' exchanges
• To analyse listening demands in the lesson
• To appraise the listening skills of individuals
• To investigate aspects in the delivery of expositions
• To examine how an exposition is structured
• To analyse and categorise an example of classroom talk
• To examine discussion skills
• To reflect on what messages we, as teachers, communicate about reading to learners
• To compare and contrast the writing and reading expectations of two different teachers
• To highlight some of our own responses to language varieties