The Effects of Interpretive Authority on Classroom Discussions of Poetry: Lessons from One Teacher

In this study we investigated the impact of a teacher's interpretive authority on the content and conduct of discussions of poetry in two ninth-grade classes. Three authority conditions were examined: a condition in which the teacher taught a poem he had written, a condition in which the teacher taught a poem he had taught many times previously, and a condition in which the teacher taught a poem that he saw for the first time along with his students. Transcribed discussions were segmented into turns and communication units. Turns were analyzed for how they related to the previous turn and informative statements were analyzed for the kind of reasoning and knowledge source speakers employed. Within-class chi-square analyses identified significant differences in all three variables in both classes. Coupled with an examination of the proportion of teacher talk in the discussions and of particpants’ evaluation of the discussions, these analyses suggest that reducing a teacher's authority over the text under discussion fosters dialogue. However, the social dynamic at play in school discussions of literature may affect the potential of this instructional strategy.