It’s Janessa here, with a little more information on Dialogic classroom talk!
The article that I chose to feature is linked here below, if you choose to check it out.
Now, a little about the author…
Alina Reznitskaya is the author of this article. She has a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Educational Psychology. She also graduated from Yale University, having done her post-doctoral research there.
The theoretical framework for the research in this article is centered around dialogic teaching. More specifically, there is the “Dialogic Inquiry Tool”. This is a scale of observations that is used in elementary ELA classrooms. The DIT uses these observations to analyze student/teacher relations in dialogic communication.
This study’s purpose was to inform readers that “known information findings” are detrimental to learning when in a class discussion. This is referred to as“recitation”, and can limit the quality of learning that takes place in the classroom. Recitation lowers the levels of cognitive engagement and function, as well as student interest, while dialogic teaching in classroom communication emphasizes the importance of language in the construction of higher level thinking. Despite the multitude of research that exists, proving that dialogic teaching is much more beneficial than monologic teaching, it is still not very present in today’s schools.
The methodology behind DIT begins with observations of short recordings of classroom discussion that usually last around 20 minutes. They can also observe through real time discussion as well. Then, teachers are asked to state what the purpose was of their lesson. What was their goal? This helps teachers to later reflect after observing the classroom dialogue. There are several indicators that the DIT will be analyzing the dialogue for. The teacher will take notes on each of these indicators as they are observing the classroom talk. Indicators include the quality of the following areas: authority, feedback, questions, meta-level connection (connecting student ideas), explanation, and collaboration.
In a dialogic classroom, it is observed that power and authority of the content and how it is discussed is a shared portion of the discussion. It is also found that the divergent questions that arise from this type of dialogue opens the possibilities for learning and intrigues its participants. There is also more feedback for the teacher to work with, and therefore, instruction and discussion are responsively adaptable.
Since it is our goal to learn more about how to create a more inviting learning environment through classroom culture and talk, this research seems to be useful in causing the classroom to grow more as a community where its members share and co-construct the conversations around the topics that are discussed. By co-constructing talk in the classroom through dialogic teaching and communication, all members of the class therefore have a valuable voice in the class, as well as a part in the discussion as a co-contributor that brings their own unique perspective and life experiences.
A limitation of the DIT is one expressed by the author of this featured article. The author states that dialogic classroom discussion is imperative, but should not become the monopolizing way of classroom communication. It was added that the reason for bringing the importance of this tool to light is because many students rarely experience this type of learning in their school careers.
Many different research tools and processes that can be helpful in the classroom can be too much for a classroom teacher to use and teach simultaneously. A useful feature of using DIT in the classroom is much more efficient and doable for classroom teachers. The author states that it is a specialized scale that aids in the understanding and the examination of classroom talk and its quality in literature discussion.
I hope that this was a helpful overview of Alina Reznitskaya’s “Dialogic teaching: Rethinking language use during literature discussions.”
Until next time!
-Janessa Davis
Let's Talk About Talk 
I loved the emphasis that was placed on not relying on recitation in the classroom but instead using dialogic teaching so that students have a chance to think critically and be more engaged. It is also important for the classroom community as students feel like their contributions are valuable and trust is built between members of the classroom. I am still confused on what exactly the DIT is? It sounds like it is a scale but I do not understand how it would be used if it is.
Katie
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