EDUC91122 Chap.6 Active Listening and Talk Repertoires
Active Listening and Talk Repertoires
Productive talk depends on listening that changes what happens next. Active listeners track a speaker's claim, evidence and uncertainty, then respond by clarifying, paraphrasing, connecting, challenging or synthesising. These moves are not automatic, especially when classroom participation has been treated as rapid individual performance.
A shared repertoire gives learners language for intellectual responsiveness and gives teachers a way to plan, model and assess talk without reducing it to confidence or volume.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Listening for meaning, evidence, stance and uncertainty
- 02
Paraphrasing as a check on understanding rather than repetition
- 03
Talk moves for clarifying, connecting, challenging and synthesising
- 04
Ground rules and roles that support equitable participation
- 05
Metatalk for reflecting on how a discussion developed knowledge
Worked example · free
AskSia practice: choose a responsive listening move
- 1Paraphrase both positions accurately: one focuses on the final value, while the other questions comparability because the starting points differ.
- 1Connect the ideas by naming the shared issue: deciding which comparison provides fair evidence of change.
- 1Advance the discussion with a testable prompt, asking the group to compare change from baseline and consider what other evidence is needed.
Key terms
- Active listening
- Listening that interprets a contribution and responds in a way that checks, connects or develops meaning.
- Paraphrase
- A restatement in new words used to check understanding while preserving the important content of the original contribution.
- Talk repertoire
- A flexible set of communicative moves selected according to the purpose and state of a discussion.
- Ground rules
- Shared expectations for participation, evidence, challenge, listening and revision during collaborative talk.
- Metatalk
- Talk about how language and interaction are working, including reflection on how a discussion supported learning.
Active Listening and Talk Repertoires FAQ
How is active listening different from being quiet?
Silence may indicate attention, uncertainty or disengagement. Active listening becomes visible when a learner represents another contribution accurately and uses it to clarify, connect, question or extend the group's reasoning.
Do sentence stems make discussion artificial?
They can if used as rigid scripts, but temporary stems make valued moves visible and available. The goal is gradual flexibility: learners adapt and combine the moves as they gain control over disciplinary discussion.
How can listening be assessed fairly?
Look for observable responses such as accurate paraphrase, reference to a peer's idea, a relevant clarifying question or synthesis across contributions. Avoid judging personality, accent, speed or sheer frequency of speech.
Assessment move
Create a compact repertoire with one stem each for paraphrasing, clarifying, connecting, challenging and synthesising. Apply the five moves to a short recorded discussion or written dialogue and note how each changes the intellectual work. Practise selecting only the move needed at that moment rather than forcing every stem into one exchange. Build a listening ladder from one contribution.
Begin with an acknowledgement, then write an accurate revoice, a connection to earlier knowledge, an implication and a critical response supported by evidence. Compare how much of the original idea each move must preserve. If your critical response could have been written without hearing the speaker, it is not yet an accountable listening move. Add a repair exercise.
Write a plausible but distorted paraphrase and diagnose what changed: the claim, degree of certainty, evidence, condition or speaker stance. Revise it and include a confirmation question that allows the original speaker to accept or correct the representation. This helps distinguish respectful tone from actual interpretive accuracy. Next, select three interaction arrangements for the same learning goal.
Describe what a pair, small group and whole class each make possible, then assign a listening product appropriate to each. A pair might revoice a method, a group might integrate alternatives and the class might evaluate a shared conclusion. Name the participation risk and one design response for every arrangement. Finish with a metatalk reflection.
After a discussion, identify the move that changed the group's reasoning, quote or reconstruct the turn and explain why it worked. Decide whether a sentence stem should remain, be varied or be faded. Assess listening through observable consequences: accurate representation, relevant connection, warranted challenge and evidence of revision. Do not use confidence, speed, accent or eye contact as substitutes.
Rehearse giving feedback that names the listening action and its effect, then apply the repertoire to a new disciplinary problem where a different move is needed.
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