Improving the quality of pupils’ talk and thinking during group work

Key issue addressed by the study  The researchers explored the effects of coaching student teachers on how to structure and model pupils’ higher-order group talk in English  They also assessed the impact on pupils’ learning

What changed when the teachers guided group work?  The pupils: –were more focused –participated more equally –asked a greater number of questions including high-order questions –engaged in less off-task talk –improved the quality of their reasoning through group talk

What did the children think about the group work?  Children felt they: –spoke more and were more on task –had improved their questioning –could expose their thinking without worrying about negative consequences: ‘you don’t have to hide your thoughts’

The five teaching and learning approaches that engaged pupils  Setting ground rules  Guided learning  Avoiding evaluation  Allowing time  Encouraging autonomy

How did teachers set ground rules and guide learning?  Ground rules for group work included ‘involve everyone’ and ‘ask for reasons’  Teachers repeated the rules to help children get in the habit of asking questions and including everyone  Guiding learning, for example, meant re-reading key lines of a text to frame children’s analysis

Avoiding evaluation, allowing time and encouraging autonomy  Teachers –did not evaluate pupils’ contributions so they turned to each other for responses –waited for all pupils to stop talking before intervening –allowed pupils to lead the discussion as they gained confidence

What did effective dialogue look like  Girl 1: Why do you think it’s a sad poem?  Boy 2: I just think it’s a sad poem. It’s about a dog.  Girl 1: But why is it sad? Why do you think it’s a sad poem?  Girl 2: Come on Nick. Why do you think it’s sad? (Encouraging)  Boy 2: Because it’s about a dog … and he’s hungry and he can’t get any food and he’s asleep on the beach.

Who were the children in the study?  Six Year 7 classes at five schools in Sussex  The groups were mixed-sex ability groups (high, middle and low)

How was the information gathered?  The researchers based their findings on –recordings of children’s talk –notes from observations –interviews –teacher lesson evaluations  The researchers used four indicators of higher-order thinking to compare children’s talk at the beginning and end of the 10-week period –analytical thinking, eg identifying implied meanings in a text –evaluation, eg using phrases such as ‘I think’ –synthesis, eg extrapolating from whole text to assess the extract at hand –hypothetical thinking, eg using phrases such as ‘if’ and ‘may’

How can teachers use the evidence in this study?  One of the main challenges for teachers promoting effective group talk was refraining from dominating the discussion.  You may find it useful to record a group discussion in your lesson. What are the features of your intervention that encourage pupil talk, what features dampen it?

How can school leaders use the evidence in this study?  Do you have a good understanding of the kinds of talk that take place in classes in your school?  You could involve some of your colleagues in action research to build a detailed picture of the value of group talk for learning and highlight possible next steps.

Follow-up reading  Study reference: Sutherland, J (2006) Promoting group talk and higher-order thinking in pupils by coaching secondary English trainee teachers in Journal of Literacy 40 (2) pp  You might like to read a longer summary of effective teachers of literacy on the GTC website:

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