Table 1 Teacher talk codes
Code | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Constructive prompt | A question or prompt for constructive engagement. Asking the learner to explain or generate new ideas, reasoning, or mathematical thinking that has not been mentioned in previous talk. | - I’ll give you a minute to look at the information and see if you can come up with a car fastness index. - How do you know that this one [points to F2] is going faster than this one [points to H2]? - Why did you use division to make your index? |
Active prompt | A question or prompt for active engagement. Asking the learner for information with a finite, known set of answers or responses, such as yes/no questions, or asking the student to do simple math that the student has demonstrated competence in through previous talk. | - From here [points to F1 flag] to here [points to first oil drop in F1], how many drops did you see? - Six what? - Why don't you write that down here [points to right of C1]? |
Passive prompt | A statement that requires no more than passive engagement, requiring the learner only to attend but not inviting the learner to be active/constructive, such as when the teacher provides an explanation, elaboration, or revoicing of a concept, idea, problem features, or task constraint. | - Now what we want to do is make an index, and remember that the lowest number means the least crowded, and the highest number means the most crowded. - So now you know how much time each of these is because you know how many oil drops [points across F2] in that period of time, right. - So you said this bus has three clowns. |
Irrelevant talk | Statements that do not apply to content or process. These include motivational remarks, monitoring of the teacher’s process, and off-topic talk. | - I can see the gears turning in your brain! - Let me just check something on the worksheet. |