Khoza, Hlologelo ClimantMakgata, Thato I.2025-03-282025-03-282024-04Khoza, H. C. & Makgata, T. I. (2024). Interaction of initiating prompts and the patterns of student engagement in higher education biology classrooms. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 6(2), 64-77. https://doi.org/10.33902/jpsp.202426566.2687-3788 (online)10.33902/jpsp.202426566http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101780The purpose of this study was to understand the interactions of prompts used to initiate engagement and the resulting student engagement using video-data from one biology lecturer in a semester-long module. This study was informed by the socio-cultural perspectives on learning. The transcripts from video data were divided into interactive episodes. In these episodes, we looked for how the prompts (classified as verbal and non-verbal) interacted to bring student engagement. Findings indicate that the prompts interacted in a variety of ways. Findings indicate that the use of verbal prompts like questions resulted in minimal student engagement. Student engagement was heightened when the lecturer initiated whole-class discussion using both verbal prompts as well as non-verbal prompts in an interactive manner. We discuss the significance of these findings and argue how our approach to looking at student engagement helped us to unpack these succinct findings.en© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.Verbal and non-verbal promptsStudent engagementBiologyClassroom discourseSDG-04: Quality educationSDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructureArticle