Abstract
In this paper, we report findings from the second year of a three-year research and professional development program designed to help elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching to support the development of students’ argument literacy. We define argument literacy as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The professional development program was focused on promoting teachers’ use of a specific type of talk called ‘inquiry dialogue’ to achieve the goal of developing students’ argument literacy. We used a single-group pretest-posttest design to assess the impact of the professional development on teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their enactment of inquiry dialogue in text-based discussions. Our analyses of videotaped discussions at the beginning and end of the year showed that there were substantial improvements in teachers’ facilitation of inquiry dialogue and in the quality of students’ argumentation during discussions. Contrary to expectations, however, there were no changes in teachers’ epistemology; teachers’ beliefs about knowledge and knowledge justification remained at a relativist stage throughout the course of the program, suggesting that teachers continued to view all opinions as equally valid and regard arguments and the use of reasons and evidence as idiosyncratic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 65-82 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Language and Education |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2 Jan 2017 |
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Keywords
- Classroom dialogue
- dialogic
- teacher development
Cite this
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Toward a more dialogic pedagogy : changing teachers’ beliefs and practices through professional development in language arts classrooms. / Wilkinson, Ian A.G.; Reznitskaya, Alina; Bourdage, Kristin; Oyler, Joseph; Glina, Monica; Drewry, Robert; Kim, Min Young; Nelson, Kathryn.
In: Language and Education, Vol. 31, No. 1, 02.01.2017, p. 65-82.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Toward a more dialogic pedagogy
T2 - changing teachers’ beliefs and practices through professional development in language arts classrooms
AU - Wilkinson, Ian A.G.
AU - Reznitskaya, Alina
AU - Bourdage, Kristin
AU - Oyler, Joseph
AU - Glina, Monica
AU - Drewry, Robert
AU - Kim, Min Young
AU - Nelson, Kathryn
PY - 2017/1/2
Y1 - 2017/1/2
N2 - In this paper, we report findings from the second year of a three-year research and professional development program designed to help elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching to support the development of students’ argument literacy. We define argument literacy as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The professional development program was focused on promoting teachers’ use of a specific type of talk called ‘inquiry dialogue’ to achieve the goal of developing students’ argument literacy. We used a single-group pretest-posttest design to assess the impact of the professional development on teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their enactment of inquiry dialogue in text-based discussions. Our analyses of videotaped discussions at the beginning and end of the year showed that there were substantial improvements in teachers’ facilitation of inquiry dialogue and in the quality of students’ argumentation during discussions. Contrary to expectations, however, there were no changes in teachers’ epistemology; teachers’ beliefs about knowledge and knowledge justification remained at a relativist stage throughout the course of the program, suggesting that teachers continued to view all opinions as equally valid and regard arguments and the use of reasons and evidence as idiosyncratic.
AB - In this paper, we report findings from the second year of a three-year research and professional development program designed to help elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching to support the development of students’ argument literacy. We define argument literacy as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The professional development program was focused on promoting teachers’ use of a specific type of talk called ‘inquiry dialogue’ to achieve the goal of developing students’ argument literacy. We used a single-group pretest-posttest design to assess the impact of the professional development on teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their enactment of inquiry dialogue in text-based discussions. Our analyses of videotaped discussions at the beginning and end of the year showed that there were substantial improvements in teachers’ facilitation of inquiry dialogue and in the quality of students’ argumentation during discussions. Contrary to expectations, however, there were no changes in teachers’ epistemology; teachers’ beliefs about knowledge and knowledge justification remained at a relativist stage throughout the course of the program, suggesting that teachers continued to view all opinions as equally valid and regard arguments and the use of reasons and evidence as idiosyncratic.
KW - Classroom dialogue
KW - dialogic
KW - teacher development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84987887502&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09500782.2016.1230129
DO - 10.1080/09500782.2016.1230129
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 65
EP - 82
JO - Language and Education
JF - Language and Education
SN - 0950-0782
IS - 1
ER -