This study applies natural language processing and qualitative classroom video analyses to examine classroom discourse. Guided by hybridity theory, which emphasizes the benefits of blending everyday with academic language practices for expanding students’ opportunities to engage with disciplinary ideas, our study systematically identifies how teachers’ and students’ discursive resources operate in science classrooms. The NLP (namely, LIWC and topic modeling) results indicated that traditional academic discourses were prevalent; however, hybrid discourses were also evidenced in the presence of social language and everyday topics, as well as high language coordination between teachers and students. The qualitative findings further illustrated how teachers facilitated hybrid discourse spaces through open-ended questions that prompt disciplinary connections to contemporary events and students’ out-of-school experiences. We discuss the implications for future research and partnership with educators in service of supporting hybrid discourse in science classrooms.
Lee Bae, C., Hankour, K., Williamson, K., & DeBusk-Lane, M. (2025). Middle school science talk: Coupling natural language processing with classroom video analyses to explore discursive resources in hybrid spaces. AERA Open, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251371049