Transforming dialogic teaching-and-learning practices in education

ABSTRACT

While prior research has established the benefits of dialogic teaching-and-learning practices, their widespread school implementation has proven challenging. How might research on dialogic education help teachers enrich their everyday practices? In this article, we adapt and apply an established conceptual framework to previously published research on innovation and teacher professionalization in Mexican primary schools. The framework accounts for the relationship between the level of implementation of educational change toward dialogic practices and the level of appropriation of these practices by teachers, students, and institutions. The level of implementation can be additive, assimilative, or systemic, according to the nature and extent of the desired change. This framework provides guidance to transform the fabric of traditional classroom practices into more dialogic interactive styles by opening, widening, and deepening spaces for dialogue, in which children’s learning is centerstage and teachers participate actively as co-designers of change, with institutional support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional resources

1. The Thinking Together Project website: https://thinkingtogether.educ.cam.ac.uk/

 This is the official website of the innovative “Thinking Together” program developed in the UK that consists of a dialogue-based approach to developing students’ thinking and learning. It offers information about a series of publications (books, chapters and journals), research projects, and links and resources for teachers to promote quality dialogue and assess oracy skills in the classroom.

2. The website of Professor Robin Alexander: https://robinalexander.org.uk/

 On this website, Professor Alexander shares the framework he has developed for characterizing dialogic teaching and supporting teachers who wish to foster quality classroom talk. The website contains details about his publications (including books, monographs, journal and newspaper articles and blogs) and the teaching resources he has created throughout his career.

3. “Accountable Talk” in the Institute of Learning website (University of Pittsburgh). https://ifl.pitt.edu/accountable-talk/

 The website includes information, videos and audio segments related to “Accountable Talk” practices that aim to promote productive classroom talk. These practices foster learning by keeping learners accountable to the learning community, to accurate knowledge and rigorous thinking.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [PAPIIT IG300422]; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México [A1-S-28106].