Classroom Discussions

Abstract

The chapter describes the nature of each of few stances with an exemplar discussion approach, as well as attempt to illustrate how they are enacted by teachers or researchers in practice with transcripts collected from authentic classroom discussions. Approaches to discussion that give prominence to an efferent stance emphasize reading to acquire and retrieve textual information, and thus they entail a text-focused response from the reader. Due to their emphasis on explicit textual information, both of excerpts illustrate what a classroom discussion would look like if teachers enacted an efferent stance toward text. An efferent stance is very text oriented and focuses on locating and retrieving textual information; an expressive stance fosters personal connections to text and enjoyment in reading; and a critical-analytic stance stimulates students' critical-analytic thinking and reasoning. Practitioners should adopt stance that aligns best with their discussion goals while also incorporating elements of remaining other stances to ensure that students achieve the many learning goals set forth.