Striving for Improvement in Dialogic Teaching: A Self-Study of the Dialogic Practices in an English Methods Classroom

Abstract

ABSTRACT Five years after an initial self-study on my dialogic teaching practices in a teacher preparation course, I conducted a follow up study to see if I grew as a dialogic teacher in the same class. This article describes the a second self-study of my dialogic teaching practices in an English methods course, and compares findings with the initial analysis to determine growth over time. Classes were transcribed and then analyzed utilizing Stanza Addressivity Quadrants. The findings indicated that I increased time for student voice in the second class and decreased time for my voice, and that I incorporated structural changes to the way I planned for the second course that increased small group talk and decreased whole-class discussion by keeping discussions focused on specific passages. In those discussions, I used open-ended questions, and focused small group prompts to create more dialogic discussions. However, I also used questions with predetermined answers, and kept interjecting with my thoughts throughout many of those discussions. Even though all kinds of talk have a place in the classroom, I found that my purpose for the discussions did not always match the execution. Implications a focus on relinquishing content control at purposeful moments to allow students to construct knowledge through discussion, and on increasing student-to-student interactions, all while maintaining the small group to whole class structure of the class.