In my syllabus
for the Online Version of Soc/101, I address �classroom� dialogue and say, in
part: Your classroom dialogues, which are
typically referred to as discussions in UOP Materials, will be treated
in a �leaderless group� fashion. I prefer the word dialogues. Is there anyone
willing to hazard a guess as to why?
Student Gary Potts
of South Carolina responded with the following:
I’ll take a stab at your question, Ron.
You prefer dialogue because a discussion is
defined as meaning to argue or consider carefully by presenting the various
sides while a dialogue is a conversation among two or more parties.
We (students) are not meant to argue or
debate our points here but instead, talk about them without fear of judgment
from our peers or facilitators. If that fear is present, then
communication often lacks as persons who are less apt at arguing their points
become timid and back away.
I don�t believe I could
have said it much better than Gary. I might add to the last sentence by
suggesting that persons who tend to like to argue, for whatever reason, can
be overly assertive and make it even more difficult for others to express their
thoughts and feelings.
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