Creating an articulate classroom: examining pre-service teachers’ experiences of talk
Abstract
This paper examines the continuing ‘issue’ of developing classrooms where talk is used as means of building concepts and understanding. As curriculum guidance increasingly refers to ‘exploratory talk’ and ‘dialogic talk’, it questions why practice seems resistant to change, despite the promotion of social constructivist approaches to learning in university. Research has suggested that at the heart of the matter are the ‘inflexible’ values and beliefs that primary postgraduate trainees bring to initial teacher training programmes and a tendency to default to observed practice. Drawing on data from the first phase of a small-scale study of one cohort of 75 trainees, the paper suggests that the difficulty some students experience in engaging in exploratory dialogue, and promoting it in the classroom, is not wholly driven by these factors. It argues that we also need to consider the tension between negative memories of classrooms characterised by ‘all listening and no communication’, which is the resultant legacy of low self-confidence in answering and raising questions, and the emergent understanding that there might be a better way to give children a voice. Students suffering from such cognitive dissonance are unlikely to develop sufficient confidence to create articulate classrooms.
Reference
Fisher, A. T. (2011). Creating an articulate classroom: Examining pre-service teachers' experiences of talk. Language and Education , 25(1), 33-47. doi: 10.1080/09500782.2010.519775
Journal
Language and Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
yes
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Post bachs (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- open ended questions
- Transcriptions
- University coursework assignment (e.g. writing/project done for a grade)
Data Analysis Tools
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
What do preservice teachers remember about their own classroom experiences with dialogue?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Combination
Did participants spontaneously link prior experiences [with classroom dialogue] to their current attitudes?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Unknown