The use of stories as prompts to foster talk and learner-learner engagement during small group discussions

The study explored stories as an under-researched phenomenon because stories have not been explored, at least in the South African Life Sciences classrooms. This study explored the use of stories as prompts to foster talk and learner-learner engagement during small group discussions in Life Sciences classrooms. A conceptual framework constructed from various concepts, including talk types and domains of engagement, was developed and used as an analytical lens. A qualitative case study design was employed. Twenty-four Grade 10 learners were divided into four groups and given stories with guiding questions to prompt talk. Data were collected through audio recordings of the learners’ discussions, open-ended questionnaires, and group interviews to understand talk, engagement, and learners’ experiences. While the questionnaires and interview transcripts were analysed deductively using the established framework, the transcripts from small group discussions were analysed to map the talk moves that learners used as well as the resulting domain of engagement. The names used in the data files are pseudonyms for POPI Act compliance.