Promoting academically productive student dialogue during collaborative learning

Abstract

Interest in the key role talk plays in the construction of knowledge, understanding and learning has gathered momentum in recent years as research has demonstrated how students learn from each other and how teachers, in turn, can utilise this information to structure classroom experiences to promote student engagement and productive academic dialogue. This paper discusses research that highlights the importance of structuring collaborative learning experiences that challenge students’ thinking and scaffold their learning to promote critical and creative problem-solving and enhanced cognitive understandings. Future directions include investigating changes to students’ cognitions as a consequence of specific types of dialogic interactions and the role of interpersonal synchrony in promoting prosocial behaviours and dialogic interactions.