Table 6 Coding scheme with narrative examples and quotes
From: Characterizing facilitation practices of learning assistants: an authoritative-to-dialogic spectrum
Codes | Subcodes | Definition and generic examples | Specific example narrative portion and example interaction quotes (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|---|
Eliciting | Authoritative | Finding out about student thinking in a restricted way that centers one perspective as an authority e.g., probing for specific facts/skills, checking understanding, asking for definitions, asking for answer alignment | The LA checks over the students work step-by-step to confirm whether she is correct or not Interaction transcript excerpt: LA: Is that the first order? [...] So your R squared value is exactly one? [...] Let’s see. Could I just check how you got this. So that’s [the natural log] of that. All right |
|  | Dialogic | Finding out about student thinking in an open way that acknowledges multiple perspectives as equal e.g., rephrasing/rebroadcasting ideas, asking for more ideas | The LA asks open questions that directly acknowledge and reflect what the vocal students mention and indirectly encourage non-vocal students to speak up Interaction transcript excerpt: LA: Yeah, that makes sense to me. So just to echo what you were saying, it’s like you think that the potential energy is going to increase, and one of the reasons why is because if you have like opposite charges, then pulling the[m] further away would increase the potential energy. [Pause] Okay, I’m seeing nods. Great. Have you all gotten to the other questions as well? What are some thoughts on that one, those ones? And someone else can answer |
Advancing | Authoritative | Furthering student thinking in a restricted way that centers one perspective as an authority e.g., correcting students, giving answers, guiding with restrictive questions, giving specific advice | The LA tells a student important information and confirms right/wrong answers, answering any questions along the way Interaction transcript excerpt: Student: Oh wait. Is the H, the CH2 in the middle, all three of them like dipole–dipole? LA: Well remember, dipole–dipole isn’t the result of like a single bond. It’s the whole molecule all together. Plus I think CH doesn’t actually form a polar bond, right, with a similar electronegativity |
|  | Dialogic | Furthering student thinking in an open way that acknowledges multiple perspectives as equal e.g., asking for reasoning or elaboration, encouraging multiple students to compare their ideas | The LA directly follows up with a student’s reasoning by asking him to elaborate on the forces he’s identifying in the problem Interaction transcript excerpt: LA: Bob [student], do you see the tension force as being supplied like by the person? [...] LA: I guess I am curious about like what forces you’re identifying as working, sort of like at work in this problem |
Noticing and interpreting | Authoritative | Judging students, often comparing them to the canonical perspective or assuming their content strengths or deficiencies e.g., noticing a gap in knowledge, noticing a correct answer, assuming a student does not know what is going on | He notices that this student’s work is correct, and she has a perfect R2 value |
|  | Dialogic | Observing students, often paying attention to their reasoning, paying attention to their behavior, and focusing on their assets e.g., noticing who is dominating the conversation and who is left out, picking up on how students feel, following the sensibility of a student’s reasoning | As the LA actively listens to the students’ conversation, she notices that students have different arguments for entropy and still come to a consensus, but that they disagree on enthalpy |
Overall purpose/ in-the-moment purpose | Attending to students’ learning process | Helping students in the whole class (overall purpose)/ in the current group (in-the-moment purpose) with a process or skill directly related to class content e.g., aiming at how to answer stepwise, use of scientific vocabulary, including all students, a specific approach or method | The LA thinks there may be too many ideas in the conversation, which can be overwhelming, so she wants to center one idea at a time for the students to think about |
|  | Developing students’ content understanding | Promoting in-depth content understanding and connections among multiple concepts for all students in the class (overall purpose)/ in the current group (in-the-moment purpose) e.g., aiming at justified content, recognizing misconceptions, synthesis of ideas | The LA wants to establish a stronger foundation of knowledge before addressing the question conceptually |
|  | Nurturing students’ positive qualities and attitudes | Encouraging certain personality traits or characteristics not related to class content for students in the whole class (overall purpose)/ in the current group (in-the-moment purpose) e.g., aiming at students’ confidence, self-reliance | The LA values reassuring the students and giving them confidence since he believes that people second guess themselves a lot, so having someone to tell them that they are on the right track makes the students feel good about themselves |