The I-O-F Sequence and Talking Invitationally in the Classroom I

• In Event: Instructional and Developmental Lessons in Intended and Unintended Messages

Abstract

Informed by the conference theme, this paper examines the relevance of the link between classroom talk and how we talk across out lifespans. With its foundation in ethnography of communication studies of classroom and home communication and incorporating data collected in a grounded practical theory investigation of the instructional communication practice of instructor-facilitated collegiate classroom discussion (IFCCD), this is an in-depth analysis of one case in which there was consistent engaged and participatory classroom discussion. Incorporating ideas from invitational rhetoric, the invitation-offering-follow-up (I-O-F) is proposed as a discussion-based version of the traditional direct instruction tripartite classroom participation structure. Examining this case, the teacher’s first-turn questions are found to be invitational, second-turn student comments are analyzed as offerings of perspectives, and three distinct instructor third-turns are identified as part of the talk that construct lively classroom discussion. Discussion-based instruction allows development of fundamentally different life communication skills than traditional classroom interaction.

Author

• Heidi Lynn Muller, U of Northern Colorado