Classroom discussion: a method of instruction and a curriculum outcome

The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers' thinking about classroom discussion. Teachers have multiple conceptions of classroom discussion, but these conceptions often intersect with two purposes for using classroom di scussion: (1) discussion as a method of instruction, where the purpose is t o help engage students in a lesson, and learn academic content by encouragi ng verbal interactions; and (2) discussion competence as the subject matter , where the desired outcome is for students to learn to discuss more effect ively. To better understand teachers' use of discussion in the classroom, t his study examined teachers' thinking about discussion with these two purpo ses in mind. Six high school social studies teachers were purposively selec ted to permit data collection from a theoretically interesting sample. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a think-aloud task, and wer e analyzed using grounded theory's constant-comparative technique. implicat ions of these findings for teachers, teacher educators, and researchers int erested in classroom discussion are examined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.