Dialogic Teaching is a pedagogical approach that harnesses the power of talk to stimulate and extend pupils’ thinking and advance their learning and understanding. It aims to get students to understand their learning through questioning and exploratory discussions.
Dialogue is a moment where humans meet to reflect on their reality as they make and remake it. It is the sealing together of the teacher and the students in the joint act of knowing and re-knowing the object of study. Instead of transferring the knowledge as a fixed possession of the teacher, dialogue demands a dynamic advancing towards knowledge by both teacher and students.
Adapted from Shor and Freire, 1987
Wells defines dialogic teaching as the collaborative behaviour of two or more participants as they use the meaning potential of a shared language to mediate the establishment and achievement of their goals in social action.
Adapted from Wells, 1999
Pedagogical dialogue is viewed as a self-contained instructional method and activity among other (non-dialogic) instructional methods (strategies) and activities. Dialogue is an activity directed toward discovery and new understanding, which stands to improve the knowledge, insight, or sensitivity of its participants.
Adapted from Matusov, 2009, 2014
Alexander defines dialogic teaching as harnessing the power of talk to engage students, stimulate and extend their thinking, and advance their learning and understanding. It helps the teacher to diagnose students’ needs, frame their learning tasks and assess their progress. It empowers the student for lifelong learning and and active citizenship.
Adapted from Alexander, 2006, 2015
The dialogical approach to learning and teaching has both a long history stretching back to Socrates and a contemporary relevance arising from the elaboration of socio-cultural theories derived from a variety of influences in psychology, linguistics, anthropology and education. At the intersection of psychology and linguistics, Vygostky and Bakthin are recognised as key influences in developing our understanding of the social foundations of learning (Renshaw, 2004).
Any discussion of dialogic approaches to learning and teaching owes a debt to Vygostky (1896-1934) who emphasised social and cultural influences of child development, and especially recognised language as the driving force behind cognitive development. As a result of Vygotsky’s influence, an increasing body of research supports the view that talk is the key to learning. Such work has laid the ground for a close consideration of dialogic talk (Lyle, 2008).
A contemporary of Vygostsky, Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) sees all language as a social practice, all language, indeed all thought is dialogic. Bakthin’s concept of ‘dialogical meaning-making’ allows the learner to play an active roles in developing a personally constructed understanding of the curriculum through a process of dialogic interchange (Lyle, 2008).
This step is strongly encouraged if it is the first time that the students are experiencing dialogic teaching. It sets the stage in terms of the process, roles and hence, expectations of teacher-facilitator and students.
Teacher-Facilitator
Teacher-facilitator orientates students to problem-based learning. The following are provided:
Students
To facilitate the different kinds of learning talk, students in dialogic classrooms must learn endeavour to listen well, to think about what they hear, to give other time to think and to respect alternative viewpoints.
Talk for everyday life
Learning talk
Teaching talk
Classroom organisation
In dialogic classrooms teachers exploit the potential of five main ways of organising interaction in order to maximise the prospects for dialogue: