Dialogic vs. Univocal Discourse James A. Randall, The George Washington University

Abstract Examples

The GW LA Program is a cross-institutional effort involving faculty and students from CCAS and GSEHD. Funding for the LA Program is generously provided by the Office of Teaching and Learning and the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Acknowledgements

References

LA Placement

Univocal and dialogic discourse [1] are two ways of describing how instructors communicate with students. LAs may find univocal discourse useful for describing procedural practices, such as using the spectrophotometer and gel electrophoresis. Dialogic discourse is useful for reinforcing information and the reasoning behind procedural activities, while facilitating group discussions. It is important for LAs to recognize that both forms of communication have their place in the classroom, but they serve different purposes.

Professor Donaldson’s Biology of Proteins class was comprised of a professor, a teaching assistant (Emmeline Ha), and 14 undergraduate freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. My responsibilities included leading the students through the laboratory assignments we performed (gel electrophoresis, western blot, spectrophotometer, and enzyme kinetic experiments) as well as constructing in-class assignments relating to the current topic and facilitate discussions between student groups to answer and understand these concepts.

Focal Question

Key Ideas & Concepts

Future Directions •  Research; Investigate whether or not dialogic discussion is as effective

when there is no procedural component to discuss. •  Advice for future LAs: Both univocal and dialogic discussion can be

efficient methods to communicate information, but realize that each student may react to these forms of communication differently.

Question: How does a protein’s structure relate to its recognition and binding of a specific molecule? Consider proteins you know, albumin, myosin, actin.

“If the protein is missing even one amino acid, it changes the structure greatly, causing it not to function correctly with the corresponding molecule.” (Student)

Rather than give the answer to this student, we engaged in an open-ended conversation in which we discussed what the functions of proteins were and how shapes and structures of proteins related to their ability to function properly. Through the dialogic discussion, the student had to go through a process to develop and generate new understandings of the concepts. In that way, dialogic discourse helped the student and group construct the answer opposed to just regurgitate it.

For the western blot shown to the left, I simply showed the student the proper technique by walking them through the process step by step. To cement in their understanding of how a

Western blot worked, we discussed what the lines and colors of the western blot meant dialogically and how to measure weights of proteins (white area of picture).

An Opportunity for Dialogic Discourse

An Appropriate Time for Univocal Discourse

U n i v o c a l D i s c o u r s e : “ C h a r a c t e r i z e d b y communication in which the listener receives the ‘exact’ message that the speaker intends for the listener to receive” (Knuth & Peressini 321) [1] Dialogic Discourse: “Characterized by give-and-take communication in which the listener initially receives the ‘exact’ message sent by the speaker…[and] generates meaning by using dialogue as a ‘thinking device’” (Knuth & Peressini 321) [1] Western Blot: “A rapid and sensitive assay for the detection and characterization of proteins that works by exploiting the specificity inherent in antigen-antibody recognition” (Gallagher & Chakavarti 1) [2]

[1] Knuth, Eric, and Dominic Peressini. "Unpacking the Nature of Discourse in Mathematics Classrooms." Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 6.5 (2001): 320-5. ProQuest. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. [2] Gallagher, Sean, and Deb Chakavarti. "Immunoblot Analysis." Journal of Visualized Experiments 16.759 (2008). NCBI. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583035/>.

Is dialogic discourse or univocal discourse more effective? When trying to teach the students concepts about the labs they were performing, I found as an LA that it was more efficient to ask them questions and initiate a conversation rather than tell them the answers. This way, students had to think about the solution and verbalize it (enhancing the learning experience) rather than memorize the answer. Also, through talking with students, I was learning with them as I found new ways to initiate these conversations and avoid simply giving them the answers.