Academic Discourse

What is Academic Discourse?

Academic Discourse is ways students' speech and writing about academic topics are altered to effectively communicate ideas, discoveries and learning.  

Why is Academic Discourse important?

Encouraging student discourse during lessons helps to create an open and supportive learning environment, promoting the development of problem solving, effective communication, and collaboration skills within students.  Posing and modeling inquiry questions during lessons demonstrates to students types and levels of questioning to develop their own inquiry and academic curiosity.  Student discourse provides an opportunity for formative assessment, as the teacher can hear or read student perceptions and levels of understanding on a topic.

How to use this strategy:

1. Utilizing a Team Builder activity to make students feel comfortable about sharing.  Use of Team Builder activities to develop student discussion supports EL students by increasing a feeling of comfort and sense of taking risks with utilizing a new language

2. Use discussion topics initially that are fun with high level of student interest and low effective filter, then scaffold up to discussion topics about academic content

3. End of class meeting where teacher first models procedure using easy questions and possibly sentence starters, then transitions to student created questions and facilitates discussion, creating and building a safe environment in the classroom

4. Implement within classroom routines opportunities to encourage students to develop and ask their own questions.

5. Plan for more open-ended questions with appropriate time for student to research and explore 

6. Supply Student Discourse Stems that could be used for various purposes of an Academic Discourse.  Some examples include for clarification, paraphrasing, agreeing, or disagreeing. Plan for guided practice using the discourse stems

7. Introduce Academic Content for Controversy to elicit student discourse and debate. Scaffold up to using Structured Academic Controversy to build the Academic conversation in small groups

8. Utilize discussion strategies like Inside/Outside Circle to provide multiple opportunities for students to practice language skills