... what students learn, how students learn, and what educators learn from their students (Gorham, 1988; Jordan, McGreal, & Wheeless, 1990; Keller, 1983; Plax, Kearney, McCroskey, & Richmond, 1986; Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987). One of the ways students and educators learn is through student speech (Menzel & Carrell, 1999) because oral student participation is linked to active learning (Steinert & Snell, 1999) and decreased misconceptions about the academic content of the course (Roser & Keehn, 2002). Discussions can be used to improve student interpersonal skills (Olaniran, Savage, & Sorenson, 1996), develop critical thinking skills (Garside, 1996), and improve students' communication competence (Zorn, 1991). Student discussion is connected to student ability to construct meaning out of the course content (Coulter, Konold, & Feldman, 2000) and discussions can help individual students define and acknowledge the common goals of the class, and thus can be a motivational tool when students are able to ...

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