Turn-taking patterns in dialogic collaborative problem solving

Abstract

Dialogic collaborative problem solving describes how students collaboratively solve a problem with their peers mainly through talk. This study mainly adopted the participation shift analysis framework and the hierarchical clustering technique to identify turn-taking patterns in a dialogic collaborative problem-solving context. There were 160 participants assigned in 40 groups. Turn-receiving was the dominant turn-taking pattern and there was no significant correlation between turn-taking patterns and group outcome or self-reported individual performance. This study also identified three major clusters of individuals who revealed distinctive turn-taking preferences: turn-receivers, turn-usurpers, and turn-balancers. Turn-receivers made most contributions to group discussion while turn-usurpers showed the highest confidence but performed worst. Relevant interpretations and implications were also discussed.