Abstract
This chapter discusses the challenges and possibilities of helping elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching, a pedagogical approach that capitalizes on the power of talk to foster students' thinking, understanding, and learning. It explains the concept of dialogic teaching and related terms and uses two excerpts to illustrate the key differences between more monologic and more dialogic discussions. In addition to evaluatist epistemology, dialogic teaching reflects a social constructivist perspective on learning. Research reveals that dialogic classrooms have more egalitarian social organization, with authority over the content and form of discourse shared among discussion participants. To address the apparent disparity between the higher educational goal of teaching argumentation and the reality of typical classroom practices, the authors have designed a comprehensive professional development program in dialogic teaching. The chapter reviews empirical research on dialogic teaching, demonstrating both the pedagogical potential of this approach and its limited use by practitioners.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Positive Psychology in Practice |
Subtitle of host publication | Promoting Human Flourishing in Work, Health, Education, and Everyday Life: Second Edition |
Publisher | wiley |
Pages | 279-296 |
Number of pages | 18 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118996874 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781118756935 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 30 Jun 2015 |
Keywords
- Argument skill
- Comprehensive professional development program
- Dialogic classroom
- Dialogic teaching
- Evaluatist epistemology
- Inquiry dialogue
- Pedagogy