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Step 4: Improve Discourse
Step 4: Improve Discourse
Using Talk Moves to Enhance Student Talk
With insights gathered from the first three steps—Group Dynamics, Discourse Quality, and Teacher Support—you’re ready to make intentional moves that elevate student-to-student discourse.
In Step 4, you’ll move from observation to action. The goal is to respond to the group dynamics you’ve identified with talk moves—intentional ways of prompting student thinking and encouraging participation in small-group conversations.
Use the Talk Moves tool (a collection of strategies that align directly with the 10 group dynamics) to set specific goals, select targeted Process Help talk moves, use them with small groups, and see their impact.
Talk Moves to Encourage Participation in Talk
Learned Helplessness
The group members need you, or a student that typically leads the group, to initiate work on a task. There is either no communication or off-task conversations.
Talk Moves
🔹Push for clarification of questions
🔹Redirect questions to group
🔹Direct explanations to group members
🔹Refer to other resources
Help-Leave-Silence
You initiate communication about a task between group members. The conversation terminates after you leave the group.
Talk Moves
🔹Leave group with a task
🔹Follow-up on progress
Own Zones
The group members are individually working on a task.
Talk Moves
🔹Redirect questions to group
🔹Individual work and then cue to compare strategies
Non-Participatory Student
One or two group members are not partaking in the conversation about a task between the other group members.
Talk Moves
🔹Elicit explanation of what has been done
🔹Urge another student to explain
🔹Request to restate explanation in own words
🔹Advocate answering another student’s question
Talk Moves to Support Momentum of Talk
Obstable
The group members have worked on a task and ask you for help. To respond appropriately, you need to know what work has been done.
Talk Moves
🔹Elicit explanation – Push for clarity
🔹Focus on evaluation of errors
Unsuccessful Help
Despite one group member trying to help another, the group member receiving assistance remains confused often not admitting to their remaining questions.
Talk Moves
🔹Request to restate explanation in own words
🔹Ask whether agree with restatement
Dominant Student
One group member dictates the conversation often minimizing or completely overlooking the ideas of the other group members.
Talk Moves
🔹Request to restate explanation in own words
🔹Highlight overlooked idea of another student
Talk Moves to Foster Productive Talk Norms
Rush To Complete Task
The group members’ priority is to quickly complete a task with little to no assessment of their approach or solution.
Talk Moves
🔹Cue to compare strategies
🔹Encourage evaluation of work
Teacher As Authority
The group members perceive the teacher as the mathematical authority.
Talk Moves
🔹Redirect questions to group
🔹Prompt student to redirect question to group
🔹Direct explanations to group members
🔹Encourage evaluation of work
Blindly Accept Work of Others
One or more group members concur with erroneous, confusing, or incomplete reasoning.
Talk Moves
🔹Request to restate explanation in own words
🔹Encourage evaluation of work
What happens when you change groups?
🔹Keep your small groups together for about 10 weeks. When you switch groups, you’ll revisit all four steps of the S3D Approach—but the process moves more quickly.
🔹With experience, you will become more familiar with the tools and can move efficiently through Steps 1 to 3 and begin applying targeted talk moves in Step 4.
🔹Over time, the process and tools will become part of your regular practice, carrying forward from group to group.
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