Classroom Discussion: a method of research for teachers?

Abstract

This new methodology, in common with many others, arises as much out of the constraint of practicalities as from the nature of the research questions being considered. It is located within the classroom and attempts to examine the class consensus. Inevitably the method affects both the nature of the data collected and the thoeretical stance adopted for its explication. This paper describes both of these aspects as well as methods for analysing the discussion process and presenting the results. The subject also calls for a consideration, however brief, of the nature of teachers’ reflection on their work, the social interactions that influence classroom discussion, and the different kinds of knowledge which may be elicited by either a solitary or a social method of exploration.