Pondering the significance of big and little or saving the whales: Discussions of narrative and expository text in fourth‐ and fifth‐grade classrooms

Abstract This study investigated the nature of book discussions about expository and narrative texts in fourth‐ and fifth‐grade classrooms. Eight teachers discussed one narrative (Amos & Boris, Steig, 1971) and one expository (Whales, Simon, 1989) picture book for a total of 16 small group discussions, which were audiotaped and transcribed. Literary and informational topics were discussed most and were more evenly balanced during the eight discussions of Amos & Boris while informational topics emerged nearly twice as often during Whales discussions. Illustrations and intertextual connections appeared as topics on a much smaller scale. Analysis of talk patterns revealed teacher dominance during discussion through a high percentage of questions asked, consistent initiation and control of the topics, and teacher repetitions of student responses or teacher questions. Teachers’ questions posed during the expository discussion were more literal than for the narrative text. Student initiations tended to occur when provided the opportunity to write responses to their reading and share during discussions.