Socializing intellectual talk: A case study of instructor follow-up statements in classroom discourse

Abstract

By analyzing the audio-recording and transcription of classroom discourse, this case study focused on the ways in which the instructor used follow-up statements to socialize students into intellectual talk. Four relevant categories of follow-up statements emerged: (a) revoicing, (b) contextualization; (c) parallel elaboration, and (d) assistive elaboration. These follow-up statements elevated students’ ability to articulate their ideas, restated or contextualized their ideas, and guided them to ground their utterances in the course readings and materials. Another conclusion drawn from the findings is that students clearly became enmeshed in the program’s community and were able to demonstrate this membership through their use of intellectual talk in the classroom. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Keywords

• instructional development
• classroom discourse
• socialization
• intellectual talk
• student development
• higher education