Student participation in whole-class discourse: individual conditions and consequences for student learning in primary and secondary school

Abstract

Students’ participation in whole-class discourse is an important feature of classroom learning. Within socio-cultural research, two explanations for this connection can be emphasised: students’ engagement and teacher-student verbal interaction. We suggest a video-based coding scheme that can be specifically connected with each theoretical strand by distinguishing between student-guided and teacher-guided participation. The aim is to explore the conditions (student characteristics) and consequences (student learning) of both types of classroom participation. The results of two video studies with standardised pre- and post-assessments – one in secondary school mathematics (932 students, 40 classes) and one in primary school science (681 students, 35 classes) – emphasise both the relevance of students’ prior knowledge for participation in whole-class discourse and the role of student-guided participation in learning.