What Lies Behind the Silence?

Although many educators and curriculum specialists tout the values of using discussion in the classroom, it isn''t always clear exactly what discussion is or how it impacts its participants, particularly the females in the classrooms where discussion is used as part of the teaching methods. The voices of students, especially females, are rarely heard in the research studies that examine classroom practices, and this study attempts to amplify those voices in order to understand how they experience discussion as a classroom practice and what lies behind their reasons for speaking or not speaking during classroom activities ostensibly devised to encourage them to participate. This qualitative study uses participation observation, teacher interviews, and interviews with the five students selected for the study to gain understanding into the reasons behind silence in the classroom. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications researchers and educators my draw from its results.