2018 Theses Doctoral

Socratic Seminar in the Basic English Community College Classroom

Aman, Ruth

This case study documents three Socratic seminars in a Basic English class in a community college in an urban center in northeast United States. Specifically, the study examines the presence and absence of dialogue in these three Socratic seminars. The researcher employed qualitative methods to address the following questions: (1) What are the characteristic features and affordances of the discourse that takes place in a Socratic seminar conducted within a community college Basic English class for nine enrolled students in that class who participated regularly in an assigned Socratic seminar? (2) How do these nine students perceive and describe their experience of the discourse of the Socratic seminar in which they participated? Examining her data through the lens of a socio-cultural theory perspective, this research found that students effectively employ many of the criteria of dialogue. Students described their previous experiences of classroom discussion and their more recent experiences of Socratic seminar. This investigation suggests that Socratic seminar provided opportunities for dialogue and meaningful interaction for these students of Basic English.