ABSTRACT
We first outline some key teacher professional development (TPD) programmes that have attempted to address the issue of teacher domination of classroom talk, observed particularly in the UK and USA (Cazden, 2001; Galton, Hargreaves, Comber, Wall, & Pell, 1999; Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Nystrand, Gamoran, Kachur, & Prendergast, 1997; Smith, Hardman, Wall, & Mroz, 2004) but also in other countries (Alexander, 2001). In most classrooms, teachers almost invariably guide and control the discourse, holding interpretive authority (Murphy, Wilkinson, & Soter, 2011) while students participate passively and with limited epistemic agency. We identify which features of dialogue appear to be more (and less) often adopted by teachers and students and then consider the key factors contributing to why dialogue is not commonly observed in primary/elementary or secondary schools. For the purposes of this chapter, we define dialogue as interaction where participants: position themselves in relation to others, recognising diverse voices, beliefs, and perspectives (Bakhtin, 1981); pose open questions, critique and build on others’ ideas, reason and think together (e.g., Mercer & Littleton, 2007). We raise some issues related to demands on teachers and the methodology of initiatives that might contribute to the patchy nature of the successes observed. The account is illustrated with examples of recent research in Chile, England, and New Zealand. It concludes with some recommendations for designing and supporting successful, sustainable school-based TPD across diverse contexts.
