Dialogic Talk
The benefits
Dialogic teaching and talk can give pupils the opportunity to extend their talk and their thinking, so that talk becomes, as Robin Alexander (2003) says, a 'purposeful and productive dialogue where questions, answers, feedback (and feedforward) progressively build into coherent and expanding chains of enquiry and understanding'. The Socratic discussion employed at School C is organised so that the pupils in the outer group observe and evaluate the contributions of those holding the discussion in the central group. They feedback their observations at the end of the discussion, thus helping to improve their understanding of dialogic talk and discussion and that of those in the central group. In both there are clear links with assessment for learning.
Dialogic talk is still a relative rarity in schools in this country but its use is developing.
Activity
Have a look at these video clips from School A where the teacher and pupils are engaged in dialogic talk and note down some of the differences between this type of talk and the examples you viewed for IRF. Note the seating arrangements for the class.
School A, Year 7 - Dialogic talk (01:14)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
School A, Year 10 - Dialogic talk (00:43)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Transcript (21 KB)
Look at the Features of dialogic talk which identifies five principles which bring together the essential features of dialogic teaching, and then look at the same video clips again and identify some of those features.
Example Lesson Plan Year 7 School A (137 KB)