Turn-taking in tutorial group discussion, under varying conditions of preparation and leadership

✍ Scribed by E. Paul Baxter

• Book ID: 104650591
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 634 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0018-1560
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00163792

✦ Synopsis

The effects of variations in preparation and leadership on turn-taking behaviour in problem solving groups were investigated in a field-experimental setting. A factorial, randomized, longitudinal design was employed, with controls imposed over many of the identifiable extraneous effects. Four groups (n = 15) discussed problematic case study material under conditions of varying preparation ( prepared vs. unprepared) and leadership (emergent vs. assigned leadership), for eight consecutive weekly sessions of one hour's duration. The principal hypotheses were tested by 2 x 2 analysis of variance, and a cautious approach was adopted to the interpretation of statistically significant results, in that preparation or leadership effects were only taken as being of any theoretical or practical significance if they reached significance in at least three of the eight discussion sessions. Both preparation and leadership, as well as the interaction of these variables, influenced turn-taking behaviour. Interactive behaviour also showed a degree of stability across sessions, with the greatest stability occurring in the behaviour of members of prepared groups. The obtained leadership effects were explained in terms of interaction expectation theory, and behaviour modelling.