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THE CONSOLIDATION OF RESPONSIBILITY
IN THE MIXED-AGE COLLEGE CLASSROOM*
In this study researchers use non-participant observation, survey, and interview to examine the nature of student participation in the mixed-age college classroom at a small Midwestern university commuter campus. Results indicate student age and instructor gender were significant predictors of students' level of participation, while student gender was not significant. The consolidation of responsibility (Karp and Yoels 1976), wherein a few students assume the responsibility for the majority of participation in discussion, was clearly in operation. Student responsibilities are defined; then students who accept the consolidation of responsibility are contrasted with those who rarely participate in class discussion.
IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM, as in other social situations, normative patterns of behavior develop which are subsequently overlooked and taken for granted. For example, as students and instructors negotiate definitions of participation in classroom discussion, patterns of interaction are established (Goffman 1959, 1961; McHugh 1968). One common classroom norm, that of consolidation of responsibility, means that a handful of students (five to seven) account for the vast majority of interactions in any given class session. Karp and Yoels (1976) first identifled the consolidation of responsibility as a major norm in the college classroom. Fritschner (2000), Howard and Baird (2000), Howard and Henney (1998), Howard, Short and Clark (1996), and Jung, Moore and Parker (1999) also found the consolidation of responsibility an operative norm in the college classroom.
Faculty members ought to be concerned with the percentage of students actively participating in their classrooms; substantial evidence suggests that students learn more when they are actively engaged with the material, their instructor, and their classmates (see for example, Astin 1985; Johnson, Johnson and Smith 1991; Kember and Gow 1994; McKeachie 1990; Meyers and Jones 1993). Research also suggests that students' active participation in learning fosters critical thinking (Garside 1996; Smith 1977). Instructors can also use classroom discussion to lead students through different levels of learning (Bloom 1956; Brookfield 1995; Steen, Bader, and Kubrin 1999).
Sociologists recognize that these definitions of college classroom situations are social constructions (Berger and Luckmann 1967). In this study, we first identify the patterns of interaction in classroom discussion using a mixed-age college classroom with predominately female students. We then, via interview and survey,...