Discussion has become a portmanteau word carrying a multitude of different meanings, and until the definition is made more precise any real comment on discussion methods is impossible. The most casual use of the word is to apply it to any kind of human exchange of words, so that any two people may ‘discuss’ a question at home or in a public house, while great assemblies as the United Nations also ‘discuss’ world problems. In an adult class any period in which there are spoken contributions from group members thus becomes discussion, whatever the objective or type of contribution. Moreover, because in recent decades the word has had extremely favourable overtones, it has been used to cloak situations in which there is little, if any, exchange of words between people. Thus, just as a person may discuss things with himself, so a teacher may declare that he has discussed a problem, even though in fact he has given an uninterrupted talk. Writers, too, discuss matters in their books without any sort of dialogue. Even when there is an exchange of words, the so-called discussion may be merely a battle undertaken from entrenched and unchanging positions.