The Distortion of Discussion

Abstract

Classroom discussion is an essential pedagogy for teachers across grade levels and age groups. But what is a discussion, exactly? Are teachers really using discussion when they say they are? Recent research has examined this question and the results are unsettling. Martin Nystrand et al’s (2001) massive study of classroom discourse (hereafter “the Nystrand Report”) found that, out of 872 observations in 200 eighth and ninth grade classrooms in the Midwestern United States, “less than 7% of 1,151 instructional episodes...in English and Social Studies” had even one discussion. As Walter Parker (2006) noted in an analysis of these results, and the authors of the study echo, there is an expectation in these kinds of classes—given the age group and material—that discussion will occur. Where the word ‘discussion’ is uttered, either by teachers vocally, in their syllabi, school-generated standards, or state-mandated standards, Nystrand et al’s data demonstrate two things: first, that there is very little discussion happening in the observed classrooms, and second that this dearth occurs in spaces where the word ‘discussion’ is uttered. Are educators fulfilling their promises of discussion in United States schools?