Comparing whole-class discussion and task-based activity

This study examined the participation patterns and effectiveness of two different instructional treatments: Treatment One consisted of a task-based activity; Treatment Two used a whole-class discussion approach (Q/A paradigm). The research investigated which instructional treatment was more relevant and effective. The quantity of information learners could remember immediately after instruction, one week later, and the information that emerged through the interactional formats were measured. Each treatment was carried out for approximately one hour and then participants were asked to write a summary. After a week, students were given a piece of paper to summarise what was carried out the week before to see how much information they could remember. All the interactions were transcribed. L2 learners’ response towards the task based activity showed positive results and the task-based activity treatment was considered a better pedagogical approach.

Representing Student Voice in an Approximation of Practice: Using Planted Errors in Coached Rehearsals to Support Teacher Candidate Learning

Approximations of practice provide opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to engage in the work of teaching in situations of reduced complexity. A problem of practice for teacher educators relates to how to represent student voice in approximations to engage TCs with interactive practices in meaningful ways. In this article, we share an analysis of our use of “planted errors” in coached rehearsals with secondary mathematics TCs focused on the practice of responding to errors in whole-class discussion. We highlight how different iterations of the planted errors affect the authenticity of how student voice was represented in the rehearsals and the resulting opportunities for TC learning. We offer design considerations for coached rehearsals and other approximations of practice.

Investigating the combined effects of group size and group composition in online discussion

Discussion has been widely used in courses, both online and otherwise, as it provides opportunities for students to construct knowledge through interaction with peers and instructors. Grouping students is a prominent strategy in the use of discussion. However, simply dividing students cannot guarantee active participation and high learning performance. There is therefore a need to pay attention to the structure and/or features of grouping, especially group size and group composition. The study described in this article focuses on the combined effects of group size and group composition in online discussion. It investigates whether students in small groups have different participation behaviors and learning performance compared to students in whole-class discussion. In addition, the influence of group composition is examined by comparing students’ participation and learning performance from high, medium, and low social-connected groups. Furthermore, this study also investigates how students’ perceived learning experience differs among these three differently-connected group compositions. The results indicate significantly different participation behaviors and learning performance between small-group and whole-class discussion. The effects of group composition are also shown in students’ learning behaviors, performance, and perceived experience. The results also reveal both advantages and disadvantages of different group types. The findings are expected to inform the design and implementation of grouping methods and extend our understanding of online discussion.

Emergence and Development of a Dialogic Whole-class Discussion Genre

Prior research across disciplines has established the value of dialogic, whole-class discussions. Previous studies have often defined discussions in opposition to the notorious triadic pattern called recitation, or IRE/F, focusing on variations to the teacher’s initiating question or evaluative follow-up on students’ responses. Recent scholarship has also identified variations on recitations and dialogic discussions that suggest these categories might be flexible, containing types of interaction associated with particular contexts. However, research remains to be done on how such types, or genres, of dialogic, whole-class discussion emerge and develop over time. In this article, I take up this line of inquiry, analyzing the classroom discourse of five lesson excerpts generated by a prospective teacher and his students in a US secondary History classroom between October and March. I illustrate how, over time, teacher and students repeatedly renegotiated the nature of a recitation-style textbook review activity using similar patterns of language that suggested an emergent discourse genre. These five interactions did not all lead to dialogic, whole-class discussions; I explain their relative success or failure in terms of how they constructed participants’ relationships to historical and classroom events. I argue that even failed attempts at generating dialogic discourse may be part of a developing genre.

IS THE WHOLE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS? A COMPARISON OF SMALL GROUP AND WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD ACTIVITY IN ONLINE COURSES

Methods for characterizing asynchronous text-based discussions have received significant attention in the literature. In this study, we examine student and instructor posts made in seventeen undergraduate mathematics courses over the duration of a fifteen-week semester (n=6964 posts). We apply our previously developed multifactor discussion board metric to compare differences in student participation, quantities of student posts, quality of posts, extent of threading, and instructor presence in small group and whole class discussion board activities. Results from this study indicate that small group discussions contained greater levels of student participation, greater quantities of posts per student and greater numbers of educationally valuable (content-related) posts per student as compared to whole class discussions within these courses. Interestingly, small group discussions contained a greater proportion of less educationally valuable posts as compared to whole class discussions.

Mini Research of Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s Commercial Text among New Students: A Commercial Material Development

<p class="05IsiAbstrak">This article mainly explores Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s Commercial Text among New Students: A Commercial Material Developments. This study uses participatory action research (PAR). The result indicates that</p><p class="05IsiAbstrak">commercial texts in the classroom student had autonomy in making a decision on particular lexico-grammatical resources they need to learn more or discuss with their pair, small group, and whole class discussion. They learn not only by locally produced materials but also commercial materials. These commercial materials drove them drawing on observation and reflective data, as the students engaged in meaning-making activities, they analyzed a variety of texts they read and shared the outcome of the analysis with their peers. This meaning-making engagement allowed them to understand and interpret texts in new and varied ways (Hodgson-Drysdale, 2014) so that relationship between content and language was evident.</p>

Power Posing for Increased Participation

Power posing—assuming an expansive posture, such as hands on the hips and legs spread apart—has been shown to increase feelings of power, confidence, and willingness to take risks. Is it possible that two minutes of power posing in the university classroom could give students the confidence necessary to volunteer answers in a whole-class discussion? The results of this study support the researcher’s prediction that assuming a powerful posture for two minutes in the classroom leads to increased voluntary participation in whole-class discussions. These results could have meaningful implications for teachers struggling with low participation rates in their classrooms. 両手を腰に当て、足を大きく広げるというパワーポーズは、人に力強さを感じさせ、その人の自信や挑戦心を高める効果があると証明されている。果たして大学での授業内クラス・ディスカッションにおいて、同等の効果は検証されるだろうか。本論では、仮説通り2分間のパワーポーズの使用によって、学生の自発的発言量が増加することが確認された。この研究結果は学生の自発的発言が少ないと大変な思いをしている英語教員にとって有意義な手助けとなるかもしれない。