Improving Learning Effects of Student-Led and Teacher-Led Discussion Contingent on Prediscussion Activity

Abstract

This study compared undergraduate students’ learning gains attained through student-led discussions with those acquired through teacher-led discussions in students who had previously engaged in a different learning activity. A total of 305 undergraduate students participated in the study. It was found that prediscussion activities yielded differential student outcomes depending on the applied combination. Self-study groups achieved higher scores through student-led discussions, whereas, lecture groups attained better scores through teacher-led discussions. To substantiate the joint effect, we attempted to elucidate students’ outcomes through moment-by-moment analyses of cognitive-behavioral engagement observed during discussions. Students assigned to the self-study and student-led discussion groups displayed consistently high engagement throughout their discussions, however, the engagement dropped sharply in teacher-led discussion. Meanwhile, student engagement increased over time in the teacher-led discussion group after the class listened to a lecture. The results of moderated mediation analysis showed that discussion formats moderated by prediscussion activity affected students’ cognitive-behavioral engagement, which led to their learning. Therefore, our findings contribute to a new perspective of engagement as a student learning in discussions and imply that teachers can induce students’ engagement leading to superior learning outcome by combining appropriate instructional strategies and classroom discussion.

Keywords:

• discussion
• engagement
• lecture
• prediscussion activity
• self-study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021R1A6A3A13039453).