The Triadic I-O-F Particiaption Structure and Discursive Construction of Open-Access Classroom Discussion I

• In Event: Exploring Creativity, Stress, Emotional Messages, and Classroom Discussions

Abstract

Informed by the conference theme, this paper examines the I-O-F as a discussion-based tripartite participation structure that is distinct from the I-R-E of the traditional direct instruction classroom. The construction of an open-access discussion is demonstrated through an in-depth analysis of the I-O-F seen in the discourse, collected using action implicative (ethnographically informed) discourse analytic methods in a grounded practical theory project on the instructional communication practice of instructor-facilitated collegiate classroom discussion (IFCCD), in one classroom in which there was consistent engaged and participatory classroom discussion. Incorporating ideas from invitational rhetoric, the teacher’s first-turn questions are found to be invitational and second-turn student comments are analyzed as offerings of perspectives. The work of instructor third-turns in providing structure for the interaction is highlighted through analysis of four distinct instructor talk techniques. In this classroom, students still learn course curriculum but practice different life communication skills than in a traditional classroom.

Author

• Heidi Lynn Muller, U of Northern Colorado