DIALOGIC TEACHING ESSENTIALS
Robin Alexander
University of Cambridge
1. WHAT IS DIALOGIC TEACHING?
Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk to stimulate and extend pupilsʼ thinking and advance
their learning and understanding. It helps the teacher more precisely to diagnose pupilsʼ needs, frame
their learning tasks and assess their progress. It empowers the student for lifelong learning and active
citizenship.
Dialogic teaching is not just any talk. It is as distinct from the question-answer and listen-tell routines
of traditional teaching as it is from the casual conversation of informal discussion. Thus:
Dialogic teaching is not the ʻspeaking and listeningʼ component of the teaching of national
curriculum English under another name.
• It attends as closely to the teacherʼs talk as to the pupilʼs.
• It is a comprehensive approach to talk in teaching and learning across the whole curriculum.
• It is grounded in research on the relationship between language, learning, thinking and
understanding, and in observational evidence on what makes for truly effective teaching.
Dialogic teaching is not, or not only ʻcommunication skillsʼ
Dialogic teaching certainly aims to improve pupilsʼ powers of communication, but it aims to do much
more than that.
Dialogic teaching is not a single set method of teaching.
• Dialogic teaching is an approach and a professional outlook rather than a specific method. It
requires us to rethink not just the techniques we use but also the classroom relationships we
foster, the balance of power between teacher and taught and the way we conceive of knowledge.
• Dialogic teaching, like all good teaching, is grounded in evidence and principles.
• And like all good teaching it draws on a broad repertoire of strategies and techniques.
• The teacher draws on this repertoire in response to different educational purposes and contexts,
the needs of different pupils, and the diverse character what is to be taught and learned.
2. DIALOGIC TEACHING REPERTOIRES
Dialogic teaching combines four repertoires:
• talk for everyday life
• learning talk
• teaching talk
• classroom organisation
The repertoires are used flexibly, on the basis of fitness for purpose, but the principles (see 3 below)
remain constant.
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Repertoire (i): talk for everyday life
We can identify many kinds of talk which empower and support everyday human interaction. Of these,
we propose that whatever else schools do, they should help children to develop, explore and use each
of these:
• transactional talk
• expository talk
• interrogatory talk
• exploratory talk
• expressive talk
• evaluative talk
Repertoire (ii): learning talk
In dialogic classrooms children donʼt just provide brief factual answers to ʻtestʼ or ʻrecallʼ questions, or
merely spot the answer which they think the teacher wants to hear. Instead they learn to:
• narrate
• explain
• analyse
• speculate
• imagine
• explore
• evaluate
• discuss
• argue
• justify
• and they ask questions of their own.
In learning, as in life, all these forms of talk are necessary. To facilitate the different kinds of learning
talk, children in dialogic classrooms also
• listen
• think about what they hear
• give others time to think
• respect alternative viewpoints
Many of the teachers in the dialogic teaching development projects have negotiated ground-rules for
talk along the lines above, and these are frequently reviewed with the pupils.
Repertoire (iii): teaching talk
In dialogic classrooms teachers may use familiar kinds of teaching talk such as:
• rote (drilling ideas, facts and routines through repetition)
• recitation (using short question/answer sequences to recall or test what is expected to be known
already)
• instruction (telling children what to do and how to do it)
• exposition (imparting information and explaining things)
But in dialogic classrooms teachers donʼt limit themselves to these. They also use:
• discussion
• scaffolded dialogue.
A word on the last two:
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Discussion
• Discussion entails the open exchange of views and information in order to explore issues, test
ideas and tackle problems.
• It can be led by one person (the teacher or a pupil), or it can be undertaken by the group
collectively.
Scaffolded dialogue involves
• interactions which encourage children to think, and to think in different ways
• questions which require much more than simple recall
• answers which are followed up and built on rather than merely received
• feedback which informs and leads thinking forward as well as encourages
• contributions which are extended rather than fragmented
• exchanges which chain together into coherent and deepening lines of enquiry
• classroom organisation, climate and relationships which make all this possible.
These forms and dynamics of talk contribute to:
• uptake (one person responding to and taking forward the ideas of another)
• scaffolding (providing the child with an appropriate linguistic and/or conceptual tool to bridge the
gap between present and intended understanding)
• handover (successful transfer of what is to be learned and assimilation of new learning to existing
knowledge and understanding)
Teaching talk: shifting the balance
• Rote, recitation, instruction and exposition are frequently used: indeed, worldwide they are
probably the default modes of teaching talk. There is always a place for them, but discussion and
dialogue are less common and children need to experience them much more frequently.
• Discussion and dialogue require learners not merely to listen and answer, but also to think,
engage and take decisions about their learning.
• By using discussion and dialogue we seek to empower learners both cognitively and socially, not
merely to tell them things or test what they know already.
Repertoire (iv): classroom organisation
In dialogic classrooms teachers exploit the potential of five main ways of organising interaction in
order to maximise the prospects for dialogue:
• whole class teaching
• group work (teacher-led)
• group work (pupil-led)
• one-to-one (teacher and pupil)
• one-to-one (pupil pairs)
Again, all of these have their place: no one form of interaction on its own will suffice for the varied
purposes, content and contexts of a modern curriculum.
3. DIALOGIC TEACHING PRINCIPLES
Whatever kinds of teaching and learning talk are on offer, and however the interaction is organised,
teaching is more likely to be dialogic if it is:
• collective
Participants address learning tasks together.
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• reciprocal
Participants listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints.
• supportive
Pupils express their ideas freely, without fear of embarrassment over ʻwrongʼ answers, and they
help each other to reach common understandings.
• cumulative
Participants build on answers and other oral contributions and chain them into coherent lines of
thinking and understanding.
• purposeful
Classroom talk, though open and dialogic, is also planned and structured with specific learning
goals in view.
Is your teaching truly dialogic? Two tests
ʻIf an answer does not give rise to a new question from itself, it falls out of the dialogue.ʼ
(Mikhail Bakhtin, Speech Genres and other Late Essays, University of Texas Press).
ʻWhat ultimately counts is the extent to which teaching requires pupils to think, not just report
someone elseʼs thinkingʼ (adapted from Martin Nystrand et al (1997) Opening Dialogue:
understanding the dynamics of language and learning in the English classroom, New York: Teachers
College.
4. FIND OUT MORE
The above is adapted from Towards Dialogic Teaching (4th edition, 2008, York: Dialogos). This sets
out the research evidence by which dialogic teaching is supported, discusses in detail the repertoire
and principles above, and provides a framework of classroom indicators to assist both professional
development and the evaluation of practice. The publication also summarises findings from the
Barking & Dagenham and North Yorkshire projects and makes suggestions for further reading and
professional support. To order: http://www.robinalexander.org.uk/dialogicteaching.htm
A summary of the approach, and exploration of the relationship between classroom dialogue and the
wider dialogue about educational values and the curriculum in the context of rapid change and the
uncertain future facing todayʼs children and their world, is contained in chapters 5 and 6 of Essays on
Pedagogy (Routledge 2008) http://www.robinalexander.org.uk/docs/epflyer.pdf . The bookʼs appendix
includes the full framework of justifications, principles, repertoires and indicators referred to above.
This wider educational context is important: dialogic teaching raises questions about knowledge and
citizenship, not to mention the nature of pedagogy, and is not merely a matter of technique.
The large-scale international comparative study, Culture and Pedagogy (Blackwell 2001) culminates in
a cross-cultural analysis of transcribed talk from classrooms in England, France, India, Russia and the
United States. This is the study in which much of the later work is grounded.
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0631220518.html
A DVD/CD pack, produced by Robin Alexander in conjunction with North Yorkshire County Council, is
also available. This contains extracts from lessons in primary classrooms together with supporting
material. To order Talk for Learning: teaching and learning through dialogue (North Yorkshire County
Council in conjunction with Dialogos, 2006): http://www.robinalexander.org.uk/dialogicteaching.htm
By and large, the attempts by DSCF, the National Strategies and QCA to promote and explain dialogic
teaching have been unhelpful. In seeking to accommodate it to their own thinking they manage to
eliminate some of its most critical and powerful features. However, for a reliable recent discussion of
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dialogic teaching commissioned for DCSF, see Wolfe and Alexander (2008) Argumentation and
dialogic teaching: alternative pedagogies for a changing world –
http://www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/ch3_final_wolfealexander_argumentationalternativepedagogies_20081218.pdf
© Robin Alexander 2010
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TOWARDS DIALOGIC TEACHING:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Initial analysis of classroom interaction in British classrooms (late 1980s/early 1990s) with
transcript extracts, and including both electronic analysis using coded transcripts and
qualitative analysis of transcripts and audiotape.
(i) A subsidiary study from the Primary Needs Independent Evaluation Project (funded 1986-91 by
Leeds City Council), using systemic observation with coded interaction categories in conjunction with
qualitative analysis based on both observation and lesson transcripts from audio recordings:
• Alexander, R.J. (1995) Versions of Primary Education, Routledge, chapter 4, pp 103-219.
The wider project report (which covers much more than the classroom interaction study) is:
• Alexander, R.J. (1992, revised and extended edition 1997) Policy and Practice in Primary
Education: local initiative national agenda, Routledge.
(ii) From the project Changes in Curriculum-Associated Discourse and Pedagogy in the Primary
School (funded 1991-3 by the Economic and Social Research Council), using computerised discourse
analysis of lesson transcripts from audio recordings, the analysis focusing on syntax, lexis, subjectmatter
and participants:
• Alexander, R.J., Willcocks, J. and Nelson, N. (1996) ʻDiscourse, pedagogy ad the national
curriculum: change and continuity in primary schoolsʼ, Research Papers in Education, 11(1), 81-
120.
• Alexander, R.J. (1995) Versions of Primary Education, Routledge, chapter 5, pp 220-269.
From comparative analysis of pedagogy and classroom interaction in five countries (England,
France, India, Russia, United States) to the foundations of dialogic teaching, with transcript
extracts.
From the project Primary Education in Five Cultures (funded 1994-8 by the Leverhulme Trust, with
additional support from the British Council and the University of Warwick). Data include videotape, still
photographs, lesson transcripts, pre- and post-lesson interviews with teachers, lesson artefacts
(teachersʼ lesson plans, lesson texts/worksheets, studentsʼ written work).
Methods for the interaction and discourse analysis combine systematic observation using pre-coded
interaction categories, post-hoc quantitative treatment of the data and qualitative analysis of the
discourse working from the transcripts in conjunction with the videotapes and contingent data. The
interaction and discourse analyses are set within the larger framework of a comparative analysis of
pedagogy as a whole.
• Alexander, R.J. (2001) Culture and Pedagogy, Blackwell, chapters 15 and 16, pp 391-528
Dialogic teaching - the main texts
These set out the theory, principles, repertoire and indicators of dialogic teaching.
• Alexander, R.J. (2008) Towards Dialogic Teaching: rethinking classroom talk (4th edition),
Dialogos
• Alexander, R.J. (2008) Essays on Pedagogy, Routledge, chapters 5 and 6, pp 92-153, and
appendix, pp 184-191.
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Evaluation reports
From development projects involving teachers in North Yorkshire and East London, funded by North
Yorkshire County Council and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham).
• Alexander, R.J. (2003) Talk for Learning: the first year, Northallerton: North Yorkshire County
Council.
• Alexander, R.J. (2005) Teaching Through Dialogue: the first year, London: Barking and
Dagenham Council.
• Alexander, R.J. (2005) Talk for Learning: the second year, Northallerton: North Yorkshire County
Council.
Papers and monographs
• Alexander, R.J. (2009) ʻDe lʼusage de parole en classe: une comparaison internationaleʼ, Revue
Internationale dʼÉducation, 50, pp 35-48.
• Alexander, R.J. (2009) ʻSpeaking but not listening: accountable talk in an unaccountable contextʼ,
UKLA keynote address. Shortly available at http://www.robinalexander.org.uk/downloads.htm
(website currently being updated).
• Wolfe, S. and Alexander, R.J. (2008) Argumentation and dialogic teaching: alternative pedagogies
for a changing world, 18 pp, London: Futurelab. http://www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/ch3_final_wolfealexander_argumentationalternativepedagogies_20081218.pdf
• Alexander, R.J. (2008) Education for All, the Quality Imperative and the Problem of Pedagogy
(CREATE Research Monograph 20), 50 pp, Universities of Sussex and London, with the
Department for International Development: Consortium for Research on Educational Access,
Transitions and Equity. http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA20.pdf
• Alexander, R.J. (2008) ʻCulture, dialogue and learning: notes on an emerging pedagogyʼ, in
Mercer, N. and Hodgkinson, S. (ed) Exploring Talk in School, Sage.
• Alexander, R.J. (2006) Education as Dialogue: moral and pedagogical choices for a runaway
world, 43 pp, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Education with Dialogos (superseded by revised
version in Essays on Pedagogy).
• Alexander, R.J. (2005) ʻTalking to learn: oracy revisitedʼ, in Conner, C. (ed) Teaching Texts,
Nottingham: National College for School Leadership, pp 75-93.
• Alexander, R.J. (2003), ʻTalk in teaching and learning: international perspectivesʼ, in QCA (ed)
New Perspectives on Spoken English, QCA, pp 26-37.
• Alexander, R.J. (2003) ʻOracy, literacy and pedagogy: international perspectivesʼ, in Bearne, E.,
Dombey, H., Grainger, T. (ed) Interactions in Language and Literacy in the Classroom, Open
University Press, pp 23-35.
• Alexander R.J. (1996) ʻTask, time, talk and text: signposts to effective teaching?ʼ In NCERT (ed)
School Effectiveness and Learning Achievement at the Primary Stage: International Perspectives,
pp 78-106. New Delhi: NCERT.
Multimedia materials
• Alexander, R.J., with North Yorkshire County Council (2006) Talk for Learning: teaching and
learning through dialogue (CD/DVD pack with 24 lesson extracts and accompanying texts).
• Alexander R.J. with Lewis, J., MacBeath, J., Tite, S., Wolfe, S., (2004) Talking to Learn (CD
forming part of the pack Learning-Centred Leadership), Nottingham: National College for School
Leadership.