English teacher candidates developing dialogically organized instructional practices
Abstract
Although mounting research evidence suggests that dialogic teaching correlates with student achievement gains and with high levels of student engagement, little work in English education addresses the challenge of supporting new teachers in developing dialogically organized instructional practices. In a design-based study, we examine a curricular intervention designed to cultivate development of dialogically organized instructional practices, defined as instruction that provides students with frequent opportunities to engage with core disciplinary concepts through sustained, substantive dialogue. The curriculum invited secondary English teacher candidates to repeatedly enact dialogically organized instruction and to receive feedback from peers using video and Web 2.0-based technologies across a year-long student teaching intern- ship. In English methods seminars, eighty-seven participants from two cohorts generated over 300 five-minute video clips, associated planning documents, transcripts, and reflections. We coded documents for student participation, evidence of planning for dialogic instruction, and classroom discourse variables associated in previous research with greater student engagement in substantive classroom interaction. We find that those who planned for dialogic instruction using dialogic tools were significantly more likely to have higher ratios of student utterances in relation to teacher utterances. The use of dialogic tools—conceptualized as those practical tools mobilized in teacher planning and practice with potential to mediate dialogically organized instruction in a given classroom situation—explained more of the variance in student participation than did any other factor. Attention to such tools may help English teacher candidates enact dialogically organized instructional practices.
Reference
Caughlan, S., Juzwik, M. M., Borsheim-Black, C., Kelly, S., & Fine, J. G. (2013). English teacher candidates developing dialogically organized instructional practices. Research in the Teaching of English, 47(3), 212–246.
Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
unclear
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- Secondary school
- University
Preservice Participants
- Post bachs (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
87
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
Data Analysis Tools
- Document analysis
- Statistical analysis
Researcher Positionality
- Inside (studying their own practices)
Research Questions
"Given participation in VBRR, what patterns of tool use
characterize teacher candidates’ planning for dialogically organized instruction?" (p. 213)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
"Given participation in VBRR, to what extent do teacher candidates make use of dialogic discourse moves in their teaching?" (p. 213)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
"To what extent did an increased use of dialogic tools in planning relate to an increase in the incidence of dialogic questioning?" (p. 213)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
" To what extent did the use of dialogic tools relate to the level of
student participation?" (p. 213)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
"What is the relationship among patterns of dialogic tool
use in planning, teachers’ questions, contextual factors, and student participation" (p. 213-214)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes