In this article I use the form of 'language autobiography' to reflect on a speech event that occurred while bathing my young daughter. Through an analysis of this early attempt at verbal communication I destabilise any overly simplistic notion of linguistic mastery and offer an account of language acquisition that is collaborative, palimpsestic…

Given the importance of teaching and learning argumentation, across disciplines for participation in academic and civil discourse, this article examines how dialogic space is created and sustained in classrooms where argument is taught and learned and, when it is created, what affordances it brings to learning argumentation. Dialogic space is a…

This paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the rationale and purpose of religious education (RE) in Catholic schools. RE in Australian Catholic schools has always been a feature of the curriculum and the expectation is that all students take part in this. Several salient features of contemporary culture that impact on faith-based schools…

Getting students talking about a work of literature -- sharing and interrogating their own and each other's textual interpretations and responses -- is vital for the teaching and learning of literature. If a classroom community of readers is constituted by such talking, then responsive teaching involves a lot of "listening." What,…

Personally and professionally, the author shares experiences with school safety and how the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom may utilize middle grade novels to address gun violence with adolescents. Highlighting five middle grade novels that address school shootings--Katherine Erskine's (2011) "Mockingbird," Emily Barth Isler's…

This article discusses the place of thematic coherence in various approaches to educational dialogue and proposes a unifying approach to the analysis of thematic coherence of classroom conversations based on research in educational dialogue, philosophy of language and recent advances in linguistic research on discourse structure. Addressing the…

Peer tutoring is a practice often used in higher education settings to create an extended learning environment for students, a space beyond the classroom and outside the teacher-student dynamic. Peer tutors are students who are "at a similar level of educational achievement as the students with whom they are working" (Sanford, 2021, p.…

"Childhood, Philosophy, and Dialogical Education" explores the history and prospects of democratic, dialogical education, and its promise as an engine of social and cultural evolution, especially in the context of the cultural and social site dedicated to the adult-child encounter: the school. Drawing on three historical narratives--of…

This conceptual paper discusses 'unseen observation' as an alternative model of classroom observation to support teachers' professional learning. The paper starts with a critical synopsis of how observation has been appropriated principally as a performance management tool for monitoring teacher effectiveness in the UK. It argues that the…

This article explores the relationship between argumentation theory and dialogic pedagogy. Arguments made in everyday discourse tend to be enthymematic, i.e., containing implicit premises. Thus, dialogue is often necessary to uncover hidden assumptions. Furthermore, evaluating logical arguments involves dialectical and dialogic processes. We…

Nicolas Senior shows how EMC3 's Launch-Explore-Summarise/Review model for mathematics lesson structuring sets the conditions to get the most out of both dialogic and direct instruction. He argues that this model will help teachers walk the balance between order and chaos.

Turning educational ideas into meaningful learning requires planning for uncertainty. This article presents Bakhtin's key concept of "eventness" as an essential aspect of defining dialogic space. To Bakhtin an event is something happening here and now, with a degree of open-ended uncertainty tied to what will happen next. Acknowledging…

What is the role of teachers in constructing loving dialogic space that is liminal in nature? How can curricular boundary objects catalyze new dialogic spaces connecting people in different social locations? Illuminating these questions, Ms. Thompson opened new doors for elementary students in an urban Reformed Christian school community, inviting…

The twin processes of collaborative inquiry and generative dialogue underpin two closely aligned and increasingly influential school leadership development programs, one in Alberta, Canada, and the other in New South Wales, Australia. This paper focuses primarily on the Australian program, the character of which has been strongly influenced by its…

Participating in fair-minded, text-based classroom dialogue has immense benefits. It contributes not only to learning and academic success but also to the ability to effectively participate in democracy. This article presents how to prepare for and participate in discussions that will powerfully equip students to listen carefully, learn from their…