One of the assessments a teacher must make during any discussion activity is when to intervene and, particularly, when to do things with what learners say.
Often, the best option is to leave learner comments as they are, before indicating who is to speak next.
At other times, we might see an opportunity to use what a learner has said to further the group’s learning, to improve the quality of the discussion, or to alter the course of the discussion altogether.
Here are six strategies you can deploy to take what learners say and use it to improve the discussion.
Strategy 1: Recasting
This involves taking what the learner has said and altering it while retaining the meaning.
For example:
- Learner: ‘Earthquakes are bad ‘cos they smash up all the businesses and make a mess of people’s homes.’
- Teacher: ‘That’s right, earthquakes do have significant consequences, including damage to businesses and homes. What other consequences might earthquakes have?’
The purpose of recasting is to acknowledge and praise correct answers given by learners while also modelling the accurate and appropriate use of language.
The teacher does not necessarily need to draw attention to what they are doing.
The frequent modelling of accurate and appropriate language through recasting should be sufficient in itself to raise the quality of discussion.
Strategy 2: Following-on
This method sees the teacher being more ‘hands-on’ in the discussion.
They do this to ensure the points being made are properly understood by other learners.
One common issue that can arise in a discussion is when learners make a series of unconnected comments; each learner states what they think about the topic instead of engaging with what has already been said.
This lessens the quality of the discussion as learners are not thinking critically about what is being said.
Following-on involves the teacher taking what a learner has said and asking other pupils to respond to it directly.
It works like this:
- Learner: ‘Henry VIII wasn’t that bad – he was a victim of the time in which he lived.’
- Teacher: ‘Thank you for the comment. Chris, what do you think about this? Was Henry a victim of the time in which he lived?’
Another approach would be:
- Learner: ‘Henry VIII wasn’t that bad – he was a victim of the time in which he lived.’
- Teacher: ‘OK, thirty seconds with your partner to discuss the idea – was Henry a victim of the time in which he lived? What do you think?’
Strategy 3: Interrogating
Opportunities will arise where it is preferable for the teacher to intervene to interrogate what a learner has said rather than let it pass without comment.
Such situations may include:
- An assertion unsupported by reasons, evidence or examples.
- A comment that is ambiguous or difficult to comprehend.
- A comment that contains one or more assumptions.
- A comment that has interesting, unusual or far-reaching implications that have not been considered by the contributor.
In these examples, the purpose of interrogation is to develop what has been said and, by extension, to improve the quality of the discussion.
The teacher may:
- Ask questions of clarification.
- Use questions to request further explanation.
- Offer counterarguments and encourage learners to engage with these.
In each case, the aim is to dig deeper into the learner’s thinking and bring their ideas further into the open.
Strategy 4 Exemplifying
Learners make many excellent contributions to paired, group or whole-class discussions.
The teacher can use these as examples or models of good practice.
The process involves identifying a learner comment that exemplifies something which is good, explaining to the rest of the class how and why it is good, and praising the original learner for making such a contribution.
Here’s an example:
- Learner: ‘Young people do not have much of a chance to speak in the media. For example, nearly all the people who write for newspapers are adults. That means it is hard for teenagers to combat bad stereotypes.’
- Teacher: ‘What an excellent contribution. You’ve given an example that supports your case, showing how your argument plays out in today’s world. As well as that, you have explained what the consequences are for teenagers. Well done; a great comment.’
Strategy 5: Supplementing
On occasion, it may be that a learner makes a comment that lends itself to being supplemented by the teacher.
This involves the teacher saying something more about the contribution to further the discussion.
It may be that the teacher observes something about the comment that it is difficult for learners to pick up on.
Alternatively, the comment may give the teacher an opportunity to introduce some extra information about which the class are unaware.
Too much supplementing can stymie discussion, weighting it too heavily in favour of the teacher’s voice.
The key is to try and identify those times when supplementing what a learner has said is of greatest benefit to the class and to the continuing success of the discussion.
Ultimately, it’s a professional judgement. One that comes through practice.
Strategy 6: Redirecting
This method is simple.
There are times when a discussion loses focuses, goes round in circles, gets stuck on a tangential point, or simply stops being beneficial.
If one of these situations arises, the teacher can use what a learner says to redirect the discussion onto more fertile ground.
You can do this in two ways:
- Take something a learner has said and use this as the basis of a new question the whole group can discuss.
- Thank the learner who made the last comment and then indicate that this draws that section of the discussion to a close. If necessary, explain how the topic has been exhausted or how the comments have lost focus. Pose a new question or introduce a different topic and ask learners to take up the discussion from there.
