Classroom Talk Research Articles

Engaging students in dialogic interactions through questioning

AbstractThis paper presents a study of EFL classroom talk with the focus on how teachers successfully encourage and elicit student dialogic talk through questioning. It is based on observation data from forty-nine classes involving eleven teaching staff in a university in central China. The findings reveal the difficulty of engaging students to be the first to participate in dialogic interactions in a culture where deeply engrained reserve is the accepted norm. Two teacher questioning patterns are identified that are effective in eliciting students’ first dialogic contribution in each interaction. These patterns can also serve as a profitable investment to elicit subsequent productive talk from students. This study also argues for a situated, contextualized analysis of classroom talk.

I’ll tell you a secret: socialization into oral social practices in elementary school whole group interaction

This paper investigates socialization into classroom whole-group participation from an interactional and micro-analytic perspective. Drawing on the single case of a moment of explicit socialization into the participation norms of elementary-school classroom interaction, it shows how such norms become a ‘learnable’, i.e., the object of teaching/learning. Specifically, it demonstrates in detail how a teacher turns a single student’s complaint related to the student’s trouble accessing the floor into an opportunity to socialize the group of students into the practice of raising hands to bid for the floor and waiting until being selected to deliver a turn-at-talk. This includes avoiding treating the complaint as a matter for reproaching the students who are not following the norms, and instead, explicitly stating the interactional trajectory of what constitutes - from the teacher perspective - a successful manner to get access to the floor and contributing to the whole-group discussion. The analysis of the sequence organization of talk during this moment unpacks the multifaceted and contingent nature of the teaching and learning of oral social practices and unveils 1) divergent orientations and methods for managing and contributing to the classroom talk; and 2) underlying moral issues connected both with the student’s complaint and with how it is treated by the teacher. The findings resulting from the fine-grained analysis of a unique episode allow for discussion on broader social issues, such as asymmetry and morality. They constitute a potentially relevant resource for further research on other cases and contexts, and for professional reflection as well.

Enacting Quality Talk Discussions About Text: From Knowing the Model to Navigating the Dynamics of Dialogic Classroom Culture

AbstractClassroom discussions are regarded by both practitioners and researchers as an essential pedagogical practice for fostering students' high‐level comprehension of text yet cultivating a dialogic classroom culture conducive to supporting students' productive talk can be a delicate undertaking. In this article, using a series of transcripts from one teacher's classroom, we describe how Quality Talk (QT), a teacher‐facilitated discussion approach, can be implemented in ways that promote a shift from a teacher‐controlled to a student‐centered dialogic classroom culture. First, we overview the QT model with particular attention to the instructional framework and underlying principles of QT. We then describe some challenging dynamics that arise when dialogic classroom culture shifts as well as approaches for balancing these opposing forces to effectively support student learning. Finally, we provide some initial thoughts on next steps in classroom discussion practice and research and the importance of centering equity and inclusion in dialogic classroom culture.

Effective Classroom Management in English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Classroom management is an essential element of the teaching and learning process which determines the quality of instruction. This research aims to investigate the elements of classroom management which can be effectively applied in EFL classrooms. This study is a review research study, where the data were collected from 43 previously published materials, restricted to books, dissertations, and articles published in academic journal. The data were analysed using data condensation, data display and conclusion drawing. The results of this study show that there are three elements of classroom management, i.e. seating arrangements, engagement, and participation. The seating arrangement has three effective components including u-shaped, sitting in a group, and orderly row. Further, student engagement consists of cognitive, behavioural, academic, emotional, social, intellectual, physiological, affective and relational engagement approaches. Meanwhile, participation includes classroom talk, teacher talk, collaborative talk, exploratory talk, disputational talk, and learner-managed talk. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers utilize effective classroom management components based on the results of this study to improve the quality of instruction.

Inter-Cultural Interactions in EFL Classroom

Interculture communication is very important aspect of EFL classroom. Students learn tons of new things in classes like these. They get to understand the culture of different places and learn the true meaning of competence. This study investigated the place of culture and intercultural communicat ion in Indian EFL classrooms and Indian students' perceptions on Imperatives for studying Intercultural Communication. Students needed for the new cultural and intercultural knowledge in EFL classrooms and hoped that curriculum can meet their needs on intercultural communication competence, and students are aware and hope to institutional and EFL lecturers to create intercultural environment and encourage effective intercultural dialogue in EFL classrooms in order to achieve: pedagogical, personal development, peace, economic, demographic, and ethical imperatives of intercultural communication . Each individual belongs to a special group. Every person characterized by different ways of thinking, behaviors, rituals, clothes, beliefs, values, and norms.

Visualization- and analytics-supported video-based professional development for promoting mathematics classroom discourse

Although classroom discourse that positions students as active participants benefits both their learning and cognitive development, teachers often find it challenging to implement dialogic instructions in the classroom. This study reports on a video-based teacher professional development (PD) program that leverages visualizations and analytics in supporting teacher change in whole-class dialogue in mathematics classrooms. Both experimental and comparison teachers (n = 24 and 22, respectively) were provided with information on dialogic instructions, and experimental teachers used the Classroom Discourse Analyzer to reflect on videos of their lessons and their peers' lessons in a year-long PD program. The intervention teachers significantly moved toward less dominant classroom talk—they reduced the number of words spoken per lesson, and their students significantly increased the number of words per turn in whole-class discussions, relative to the comparison teachers. Furthermore, analysis of the classroom discourse shows qualitative changes in the intervention teachers' discourse. PD workshop and teacher self-reflection data are analyzed to examine how visualizations and analytics in the PD program may serve as a cross-boundary object to support peer collaboration in reflective practice, and to increase teachers' awareness of their teaching development.

Exploring Science Teacher Questions’ Influence on the Students’ Talk Productivity: A Classroom Discourse Analysis Approach

It is still less known how teachers organize classroom dialog to foster intellectual contributions to classroom talks. The current study developed a coding scheme to clarify science teacher questions and identify how different questions affect students’ talk productivity. The participants were 28 fifth-grade students and a science teacher who conducted argument-based implementations. The verbatim transcriptions were analyzed through a systematic observation approach. The teacher elaborated on the students’ background reasoning in a metacognitive learning setting. In addition, the teacher assigned the students as co-evaluators of the credibility of the presented ideas. The teacher invited the students to re-consider their ideas’ explanatory power by displaying discrepant questions. Moreover, the students had to propose justified claims once they were requested to support their propositions with ample and proper data. The teacher used his questions to guide the students to handle basic process skills and make inferences regarding natural phenomena under consideration. The legitimating, discrepant, and justified talk questions fostered the students’ talk productivity than the eliciting, metatalk, process skills, and inference questions. Recommendations are offered around the teacher noticing term regarding the relationship between questions asked in science classrooms and students’ talk productivity.

Investigating digital technology’s role in supporting classroom dialogue: integrating enacted affordance into analysis across a complex dataset

ABSTRACT Analysing the interaction between classroom dialogue and digital technology is challenging. Studies in this area typically draw on methods developed for the analysis of spoken interactions. This article reports on a new approach for analysing the enacted affordances of digital technology in classroom dialogue. Using examples from cross-country research investigating the Talkwall microblogging platform, involving 20 teachers and over 400 learners aged 11–13 in England and Norway, it outlines a rigorous process for data categorization – and subsequent inductive and deductive analysis – that enables holistic and multi-levelled examinations of the role of technology in supporting dialogue. This framework features three cyclical phases for the analysis of teacher – and student-student interactions: (i) categorizing and organizing complex classroom data; (ii) coding spoken dialogue; (iii) analysing enacted affordances. The significance of this work lies in examining underpinning theory and illustrating a systematic new methodological approach to analysing learning and teaching in classrooms featuring dialogue and technology. This extends traditional notions of the affordances of digital technology by better taking into account the manner in which these are enacted in dialogic classrooms. Critical reflections, exemplifications and recommendations are provided.

The Educational and Psychological Need for Learning the English Language and Understanding the Different Anxieties

This study examines the educational and psychological need for learning English and understands various anxieties. The first section, a literature review, examines the theoretical underpinnings of educational and psychological needs for English language learning and anxiety. An important subject running through this research is how anxiety plays a role in English language learning. On either hand, a student’s psychological state can affect the learning of the English language. A psychological factor focuses on the emotional or spiritual components of a student’s learning. In English as a foreign language-learning setting, the four essential psychological needs as stated in self-determination theory (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness, and novelty) are met. The major goal of this study was achieved using a quantitative technique. A mixed methodology was selected, which comprises both quantitative and qualitative methods for this research. A total of 70 enrolled students in the English language took part in this study. It has been identified that students in this study reportedly found it hard to talk in EFL classrooms, because of the anxiety. It shows that foreign language anxiety still has an important amount of power in explaining language achievement. It is found that education and psychological needs motivate students to learn the English language. The data also indicated that nearly all psychological elements are interconnected and have a significant impact on the students’ speaking performance in the context.

Directing and Differentiating First-Graders’ Historical Reading, Thinking, and Writing about Abraham Lincoln

First-grader students engaged in a guided historical inquiry about Abraham Lincoln. The teacher carefully intertwined historical content, close reading, critical thinking, and text-based writing during Reading, Writing, and Social Studies classes. Students scrutinized secondary sources, which were largely biographies of Lincoln, to build their historical schemas. The first-graders analyzed primary sources—which were intentionally selected to mitigate historical gaps within secondary sources—in order to establish historical significance and make intertextual connections. Students formulated emerging historical understandings through extemporaneous text-based writing, which were later used to draft, revise, and resubmit expository essays. Students’ verbal contributions were far more nuanced than written communications, which their budding fine-motor writing skills limited. Children exhibited critical and historical thinking during whole-class classroom dialogue, small-group discussion, and individual interactions, such as when asked to clarify their writing. Students completed an age-appropriate adaptation of informed action. Teachers and research can gain rich, nuanced understandings from close examinations of students’ reading, writing, and thinking.

Learning in and through classroom interaction: On the convergence of language and content learning opportunities in subject-matter learning

AbstractThis study uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the interplay of linguistic and subject-matter learning. Drawing on previous linguistic work on discourse and genre acquisition, subject-matter teaching as well as the convergence of linguistic and content learning in multilingual classrooms, the study seeks to examine the following questions: (1) How can patterns of classroom talk support or hinder the acquisition of academic discourse competence and subject-matter learning? (2) How are these two learning domains related? The analyses of 120 video-recorded mathematics and German lessons in five classes (n=149 students, 10 teachers) in different German school types revealed two patterns of teacher-student-interaction, which differ in the participatory roles and the (language) learning opportunities they assign to the students. Two larger excerpts from mathematics-lessons are analyzed to illustrate the ways in which linguistic and content learning merge in the two patterns.

The Pivotal Role of Small Talk in Distance Teaching During Covid 19 Curfew Period

Human talk includes parts that are considered essential to share the understanding of the talk while some other parts may be viewed as just space filler, named 'small talk' (henceforth ST) (Coupland et al. 1992). This talk gains its name perhaps because it occurs at the side or margin of the 'main talk' (henceforth MT) as it may not contribute to the core of a talk. This does not mean to neglect this kind of talk as it could show a crucial role in participants’ MT (Abu-Elrob 2019b). Therefore, the present paper aims to give ST the attention it deserves by analyzing its occurrence in remote classroom environment to find whether it is only talk filler or purposive. This study also conducted an analysis of ST types and the linguistic features realizing the occurrence of ST. For a deep analysis of the data (classroom MT and ST), the conversation analysis (CA) framework was used to analyze the sequences and turns. The findings showed the benefits of ST to the learning process in general and to the main topic of the lesson in particular. The findings provide insights into the importance of ST in the learning environment and how it can be developed as a strategy to improve this environment. Keywords: Distance Teaching, Classroom Talk, Small Talk, Conversation Analysis.

Classroom discussion practices in online remote secondary school settings during COVID-19

Academically productive talk (APT) in classrooms has long been associated with significant gains in student learning and development. Yet, due to COVID-19 related restrictions, teachers around the world were forced to adapt their teaching to online, remote settings during the pandemic. In this investigation, we studied APT in junior high school during extended online, remote teaching spells. Specifically, we focused on the extent APT was a part of online teaching practices, what characterized teachers who tended to promote APT more in online, remote teaching, and associations between APT and teacher well-being, as well as student motivation and engagement. Findings from two survey studies (Study 1: 99 teachers, and 83 students; Study 2: 399 teachers) revealed the following patterns: Students and teachers agreed that APT was used to a lesser extent in remote, online classes, and associated with more interactive instructional formats (whole classroom discussion, peer group work, and questioning), but not with frontal teaching and individual task completion. Teachers with a higher sense of teaching self-efficacy, autonomous orientations, and higher empathy tended to promote APT in online, remote teaching more. More APT was associated with greater teachers’ work-related (i.e., lower burnout, more commitment to teaching, and lower turnover intentions) and psychological well-being (i.e., less depressive and anxiety symptoms, and higher subjective well-being). Finally, student experiences with APT in online, remote learning was positively associated with learning motivation and engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Science teachers in research labs: Expanding conceptions of social dialogic dimensions of scientific argumentation.

Argumentation is a central epistemic process contributing to the generation, evaluation, and application of scientific knowledge. A key challenge for science educators and researchers is to understand how the important social and discursive (“social dialogic”) dimensions of argumentation can be implemented in learning environments. This study investigates how science educators learned about such argumentation through a professional development program at a scientific research center. The 13‐day program included 5‐days working in research laboratories with a mentor and observing scientific argumentation in context. Theoretically, this research draws on sociocultural frameworks to investigate the social dialogic dimensions of scientific argumentation. Methodologically, it examines the reflections of a cohort of 21 secondary science teachers as they observed argumentation in scientific research settings. It examines how research experiences for teachers can promote an understanding of the social dialogic dimensions of argumentation and to help teachers take up educational approaches that foster expansive argumentation practices. Teachers shared a heightened awareness of argumentation as a ubiquitous, embedded feature of authentic scientific activity; expanded ideas about forms, uses, and purposes of argumentation; and developed an understanding of how contexts for argumentation such as collaborative sensemaking and critique can help manage uncertainty and build knowledge. A year after their program participation, teachers recounted shifts in pedagogical practices, including desettling traditional classroom talk patterns, scaling back their epistemic authority, providing students with more agency and ownership of ideas, and recognizing the value of establishing a culture of community and collaboration. Findings highlight how professional development in research settings has the potential to broaden teachers' views of argumentation, with implications for secondary science teaching.

“Everybody has to be with everybody”: Languaging relational and intellectual work with multilingual learners in a science class community

Research has long underscored the centrality of relationships in education. In this article, we explore how relations are constituted through moment-to-moment classroom talk in one U.S. multilingual science classroom. Drawing on the theory of languaging relations, we explore how the teacher and his students collaboratively languaged relationships during classroom interaction. Through discourse analyses of interactional and interview data, we illustrate that the teacher languaged a fun, caring relationship with and among students through creating opportunities for humor, translanguaging care and critical love, and valuing students’ epistemic rights. The emotional, relationally engaging classroom talk created ways of being together that sustained the students’ learning of science content. Instead of viewing relationships shaping classroom interaction, we argue for a theorization of relationships as constituted through languaging, and classroom intellectual work as intertwined with relational encounters. We conclude the article with discussion of the implications of this theorization for research and practice.

Preschool children learn physics, biology, chemistry and forensic science knowledge with integrated teaching approaches

ABSTRACT This study investigates children’s science learning in a nursery in Turkey. The participating children (aged 5 and 6) are from a socio-economically disadvantaged community. This is an ethnographic study that includes participant observations and audio recordings of classroom interactions based on a long-term basis. It takes a socio-cultural approach and uses the concept of speech genre [Bakhtin, M. M. 1986. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Austin: University of Texas Press] to examine children’s science learning. The findings highlight the role of the teacher in learning scientific concepts. It shows that the experiments enable the children to test and investigate scientific concepts. It also problematises the role of the teacher in structuring science activities and classroom talk by suggesting that teachers need to be explicit when they introduce children to concepts, rather than leaving technical knowledge for children to make inferences.

Educational dialogue of preschool teachers experiencing different levels of stress

ABSTRACT This study examined the occurrence and quality of educational dialogue in the preschool classrooms of teachers with low, moderate and high stress levels. Video-recordings of 21 preschool teachers were analysed based on episodes of educational dialogue and categorised with respect to patterns of dialogic teaching and shared knowledge building. The teachers’ level of stress was determined based on their self-reporting of work-related stress and well-being. The findings showed that moderately stressed teachers conducted educational dialogue the most, whereas teachers with low stress conducted dialogue the least. Patterns of teacher-initiated dialogue of a high quality and patterns involving factual knowledge sharing prevailed in the sample. The study contributes to knowledge on teacher stress levels and the occurrence of educational dialogue in preschool.

Languaging dynamics of classroom interactivity: a distributed view of the pedagogic recontextualization in L2 tertiary settings

AbstractThe current study investigates classroom interactivity in L2 tertiary literature classrooms in Hong Kong and Taiwan when ESL/EFL students engage with and interpret literary texts in classroom talk as a pedagogic process of text recontextualization. It proposes a more ecological-based approach to language and languaging dynamics that is complementary to current social semiotic approaches to multimodality. It also aims to open up a more embodied analysis of the meaning-making process in tertiary literature classrooms. The multimodal investigation of real-time classroom interactivity based on a multi-scalar approach showcases an embodied coordination of vocalization and gesticulation as integral aspects of the dynamic whole-body sense-making activity that arises in the pedagogic process of text recontextualization. The dynamics vary from students’ solo speech in individual presentation to teacher–student interactions in group discussion and to student–student interactions in role-play. The distributed language view of first-order languaging dynamics demonstrates the embodied and distributed dimensions of the real-time classroom interactivity that couples pedagogic subjects to the affordances of their pedagogic environment. It also provides insights into the impact of pedagogic activities on the multi-scalar dynamics of the meaning-making process with reference to embodied speech–gesture coordination. The paper demonstrates the value of applying an ecologically embodied perspective to multimodal studies in classroom research and stimulates a re-thinking of some of the important aspects of classroom interactivity that have received little attention thus far.

Leaning into Student Discomfort with LGBTQ Issues in the Counselor Education Classroom

Beginning counselors often struggle to conceptualize LGBTQ clients due to personal or religious beliefs. Counselor educators must be prepared to encourage and navigate discomfort from students that may arise due to personal beliefs. We offer a new model for navigating difficult LGBTQ dialogue in the counselor education classroom.

STEM Problem Solving: Inquiry, Concepts, and Reasoning.

Balancing disciplinary knowledge and practical reasoning in problem solving is needed for meaningful learning. In STEM problem solving, science subject matter with associated practices often appears distant to learners due to its abstract nature. Consequently, learners experience difficulties making meaningful connections between science and their daily experiences. Applying Dewey’s idea of practical and science inquiry and Bereiter’s idea of referent-centred and problem-centred knowledge, we examine how integrated STEM problem solving offers opportunities for learners to shuttle between practical and science inquiry and the kinds of knowledge that result from each form of inquiry. We hypothesize that connecting science inquiry with practical inquiry narrows the gap between science and everyday experiences to overcome isolation and fragmentation of science learning. In this study, we examine classroom talk as students engage in problem solving to increase crop yield. Qualitative content analysis of the utterances of six classes of 113 eighth graders and their teachers were conducted for 3 hours of video recordings. Analysis showed an almost equal amount of science and practical inquiry talk. Teachers and students applied their everyday experiences to generate solutions. Science talk was at the basic level of facts and was used to explain reasons for specific design considerations. There was little evidence of higher-level scientific conceptual knowledge being applied. Our observations suggest opportunities for more intentional connections of science to practical problem solving, if we intend to apply higher-order scientific knowledge in problem solving. Deliberate application and reference to scientific knowledge could improve the quality of solutions generated.