This study examines student-teachers' attitudes concerning participation in classroom discussion, investigating their tendencies to initiate classroom discussions and how they would motivate their own students in the future to participate in classroom discussions. The participants, Turkish student-teachers, completed questionnaires that investigated: their attitudes toward motivating students to participate in classroom discussions; their tendencies, as prospective teachers, to motivate their elementary school students to participate in the discussions. Data analysis indicated that most of the teaching staff members were authoritarian regarding classroom discussions and did not motivate students to participate freely in discussions. Since they perceived students negatively when students asserted ideas contrary to their own beliefs, students could not have any open discussions with them. Despite this, student teachers believed they would create more democratic circumstances for their students when they began teaching in their own classrooms. In general it was found that the educational level of the student-teacher's father and personality influenced student participation in classroom discussion. (Contains 15 bibliographic references.) (SM)