‘Are they walking their talk?’: alignment of teachers’ professed beliefs and enacted practices for teaching through dialogic argumentation

Abstract

ABSTRACT This exploratory multiple-case study investigated the belief systems (professed and enacted) of four secondary school biology teachers towards teaching through dialogic argumentation. The constant comparison method was used to iteratively assess the qualitative data, which included classroom observations, field notes, transcripts of the formal and informal interviews and teachers’ reflections, and classroom video and audio recordings. Three themes emerged to represent the teachers’ belief systems for teaching through dialogic argumentation: 1) using ‘inter-language’; 2) scaffolding the negotiated consensus; and 3) ‘taking up’ and ‘referring back’ to students’ ideas. Moreover, two other interesting results were revealed. First, the study corroborates previous results which state that teachers’ intentions or predispositions in addition to their eagerness and willingness to use reform-based strategies pushed them towards successful implementation of their strategies for teaching through dialogic argumentation. Second, the strategies they implemented somehow revealed how they view dialogic argumentation as an approach to the co-construction of knowledge in science teaching and learning. The study offers implications for future professional development in terms of improving other aspects, such as teachers’ understanding of the advantages of reform-based strategies and constant mentoring which may also influence their intentions to achieve the curriculum goals.