Accountable Talk: The Importance of Wait-Time
The late Mary Budd Rowe made wait time a major focus of her work in science
education. She studies included teaching in classrooms from elementary school to
college, from special-education settings to the informal teaching that takes place in
museums. Rowe found that “when teachers ask questions of students, they typically wait
one second or less for the students to start a reply; after the student stops speaking
teachers begin their reaction or ask the next questions in less than one second.” By
contrast, “when teachers wait for three second or more, especially after a student
response, there are pronounced changes in student use of language and logic as well as in
student and teacher attitudes and expectations, (quoted in Cazden, 2001, p. 94).
Here are some of the positive outcomes of increased wait time:
1. Teachers’ responses exhibit greater flexibility, indicated by the occurrence of fewer
discourse errors and greater continuity in the development of ideas.
2. Teachers ask fewer questions, and more of them are cognitively complex.
3. Teachers become more adept at using student responses—possibly because they, too,
are benefiting from the opportunity afforded by the increased time to listen to what
students say.
4. Expectations for the performances of certain students seem to improve, and some
previously invisible people become visible.
5. “Students are no longer restricted to responding to teacher questions and get to
practice a variety of moves—soliciting, reacting, structuring, as well as responding,”
(Cazden, 2001, p. 94, pp. 60-61).
Importantly, the research on pacing of lessons suggests that increasing wait time “is
easier to describe than to do.” Rose reports the kind of in-service supervision and support
it requires, particularly if it is to be sustained and incorporated into the teacher’s routine
enactment of her role. In Rowe’s words, “There are role and norm transformations taking
place, and the teachers need a chance to talk about their experience of this change,”
(quoted in Cazden 1988, p. 61).
Clearly, in making a shift in wait time, teachers are doing far more than simply waiting
longer. They are rethinking the kinds of questions and comments they formulate, and
their expectations for student participation.
References:
Cazden, C.B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Cazden, C.B. (2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning (2nd ed.).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rowe, M.B. (1986). Wait time: Slowing down may be a way of speeding up! Journal of Teacher
Education, 37, 43-50
Accountable Talk Classroom Conversations that Work
@2002 University of Pittsburgh
Accountable Talk: The Importance of Wait-Time
Wait time after posing a question
When the teacher asks a question, not all students will process that question at the
same rate. Second language learners, students with less background knowledge, students
with processing difficulties, all may be left behind if the teacher proceeds too quickly to
choosing a student to answer her question. Often a student will quickly raise his or her
hand, and it may feel strange to ignore that student and wait for others to respond. But
consciously waiting be calling on anyone gives more students a chance to think and
formulate a response. This technique has another, equally important effect. In many
classrooms, students know that all of the teacher’s questions will be answered by a few
“star students.” The “silent majority” feel no obligation to try and answer a question
because they know that before they can formulate a response, one of the stars will beat
them to it. Over time, this has a demoralizing effect on students and on the teacher. In
such classrooms, it is difficult to sustain a discussion in which all students participate,
and more importantly, students do not have to sense that they have an obligation to think
about the problem or question along with everyone else. If a teacher uses the first kind of
wait time consistently, and also varies the choice of students she calls on, a change will
take place in the classroom. Students who formerly never volunteered an answer will
begin to realize that the teacher’s questions are also for them.
Wait time after calling on a student
A second kind of wait time can be seen after the teacher has called on a student.
Many students will take quite a while to answer. They may sit silently, staring at the
teacher. They may begin to formulate an answer, stumbling and stopping in a way that is
difficult to follow. It sometimes feels very uncomfortable to wait silently as a student
struggles to formulate an answer. Most of us naturally want to jump in and rescue the
student by offering to let them pass or soliciting another student’s help. Yet teachers who
have gritted their teeth and remained silent, waiting for an answer of some kind, have
come to see significant changes among their students. Many more students are willing to
engage in the conversations. Teachers who use this kind of wait time effectively often
explicitly tell the students that they are, in fact, waiting. As a student struggles to answer,
they will say to other students things like, “That’s OK, give her time.” Or, “That’s OK,
we’ll wait.” This kind of behavior models accountability to the community.
Wait time after student gives a response
A third kind of wait time emerges after the student has given a response. It is easy to
forget that when a student produces an answer, not all of the other students will be able to
process that answer equally quickly. The teacher can help by finding ways to extend the
time that the student’s answer “hangs in the air.” For example, the teacher can
thoughtfully repeat the student’s answer: “Hmmm, the fractions with odd denominators.”
Some teachers take the step of writing an answer on the board, or slowly clarifying it in a
revoicing move: “So, you’re saying that the fractions with odd denominators will be the
ones that create repeating decimals. So Anna’s conjecture is that repeating decimals will
result for all fractions with odd denominators. Is that right Anna?” Other teachers may
ask another student to repeat what Anna has said. Although none of these moves involve
silence, all are a form of “wait time,” because all give the students additional time to
process what has been said.
Accountable Talk Classroom Conversations that Work
©2002 University of Pittsburgh