Social Studies Teachers' Conceptions of Discussion: A Grounded Theory Study

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to develop an initial theory of teachers' conceptions of classroom discussion. Six high school social studies teachers participated in this study, and were purposively selected to permit data collection from a diverse and theoretically interesting sample. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a think-aloud task, and were analyzed using grounded theory's constant-comparative technique. During data analysis, six conceptions of discussion emerged. Teachers thought of discussion as recitation, teacher-directed conversation, open-ended conversation, a series of challenging questions, guided transfer of knowledge to the world outside the classroom, and practice at verbal interaction. In addition, five factors emerged that seemed to influence the teachers' use of discussion. Explanations and excerpts from the data are provided to illustrate each of the conceptions. These hypothetical categories contribute to previous research on discussion by revealing the complexity of teachers' conceptions of discussion. Implications of these findings for teachers, teacher educators, and researchers interested in classroom discussion are examined.