ABSTRACT
Discussion is an integral part of our lived experiences. Whether one is sharing a story with a friend, inquiring with the principal about the school’s discipline policy, or debating the reality of the normal distribution with future researchers, individuals are involved in discussion. Discussions in classrooms are fairly open-ended and collaborative episodes of talk among teachers and students, or among students, for the purpose of fostering student thinking, learning, problem-solving, comprehension, or literary appreciation (Wilkinson, 2009). Broadly conceived, classroom discussions can take many forms including sharing time, content lessons, or even interactions with computers (Cazden & Beck, 2003), and they can involve differing numbers of individuals such as pairs, small groups, or a whole class, with or without a teacher present (Murphy, Wilkinson, & Soter, 2004).
