Students’ understandings of collaborative discourse: A knowledge building approach

Abstract

The study assessed students’ understanding of collaborative discourse and examined the role of knowledge building environment augmented with reflective assessment in fostering more sophisticated views of collaborative discourse among students. One language teacher and 31 high school students in Hong Kong participated in this study. Data were collected from students’ pre-post essay writings about “what is good discussion”. This study identified four patterns of understandings about collaborative discourse ranging from less to more sophisticated, and found that students’ understandings of collaborative discourse became more sophisticated after their engagement in knowledge building.