Campus‐based university students’ use of dialogue

Abstract

This investigation explores the kinds of study strategies used by campus‐based university students in terms of the dialogues they engaged in while learning physics and chemistry in both large and small classes. Research objectives were threefold: (1) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were generally utilized by students as they learned, (2) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were specifically utilized by students to solve problems, and (3) to compare these findings with previous ones obtained from distance education students. It was found that campus‐based students in small classes learned in a highly interactive environment characterized by interpersonal dialogue, especially with the lecturer. It was also found that campus‐based students in large classes learned primarily through individual study, characterized as intrapersonal dialogue. Both college and university students opted for interpersonal dialogue, especially with peers, when faced with insoluble problems. Findings about students in large campus‐based lecture courses replicate earlier findings obtained from distance education students, thereby highlighting similarities between the two seemingly different instructional systems.