What do you think? Applied research in class discussion communication.

The purposes of this study are to investigate non-credentialed English teachers’ experiences facilitating class discussions and analyze the information communicated in extant discussion facilitation resources targeted towards non-credentialed English teachers. The study created themes from semi-structured interviews with 29 non-credentialed English teachers and eight resources of multiple modalities. First, the study reviews relevant literature related to dialogue, class discussions, and applied research in education. Second, the study methods are discussed. Third, the thematic findings from both research questions are explained. The themes that emerged from interviews include experiences with student participation level, experiences with student participation quality, experiences with student buy-in, experiences with student benefits, and experiences with resources for discussions. The themes that emerged from the resource archival analysis include discussion philosophy, discussion preparation, discussion questions, discussion strategies, and post-discussion assignments. Fourth, the findings are discussed in relation to implications for teacher practitioners, resource developers, and teachers. Study limitations and future directions for research are also discussed.