One of the recurring themes in research regarding classroom participation is group work and group dialogue. Kovalainen and Kumpulainen (2005) examine a single class that strongly emphasizes “learning-as-participation” (p. 214). They examined interactions in math, science, and a philosophy based lessons. Teacher-student interactions were broken down into Teacher Initiated (TI), and then Student Initiated (SI). These were then further broken down into how the student or teacher was participating, such as defining, information seeking, and sharing evidence.

It was found that TI was more common than SI interactions, but SI interactions still made up a large portion of classroom communication. One interesting finding was how “the sharing of personal experiences was not salient in whole-class interaction sequences in which the teacher also participated” (p. 236). It would make sense that students would be more reluctant to share personal details or stories about themselves in front of the whole class. When the class does bring the groups back together, whole class participation is supported in a meaningful way. When students are not paying attention when another student is speaking, the teacher asked the one student to “hold on for a while and asks the other students themselves to recall the rules of participating in the joint discussion” (p. 229), instead of just telling the students to be quiet. This practice reinforces proper group participation skills.

Kovalainen and Kumpulainen’s work shows where different types of participation are present and how it is important for classrooms to be social learning spaces . Learning does not need to be “a purely individual endeavour” (p. 214).

Source: Kovalainen, M., & Kumpulainen, K. (2005). The discursive practice of participation in an elementary classroom community. Instructional Science, 33, 213-250.