ABSTRACT
Dialogue is a dangerous and deceptive word precisely because it sounds so pleasant and positive. Who can disagree that dialogue is a good thing? As Anna Sfard writes in her chapter in this theory section of the book, the term ‘dialogic education’ is now being used as an indicator of quality but often without any further definition as to what exactly is meant by ‘dialogic’ or even by the word ‘dialogue’. ‘These days,’ she continues, ‘the confidence in the benefits of talk seems unshaken. But while intuitively irresistible, this belief is still to be theoretically grounded and empirically corroborated’ (Sfard, Chapter 7 in this volume). Examining and grounding the theory of dialogic education is the point of this section and the purpose of each of its chapters.
