Teachers’ rejoinders to students’ responses in reading lessons

The rejoinders that teachers give to students’ responses in the questioning phase of comprehension lessons were examined with respect to their type and their function. Thirty-seven lessons taught by six second-grade teachers conducting small group sessions organized by students’ reading ability (high, average, and low) were transcribed and analyzed. Eight types of rejoinders appeared: the null rejoinder, as well as explicit evaluation of the students’ response, repetition of it, elaboration of it, and combinations of these three. The null rejoinder predominated; types involving repetition were the next most favored. The teachers showed individual preferences in choosing one type over another, lending varying movement to the quality of the questioning sessions, but as a group showed negligible differences with respect to readers of varying abilities.