Introduction
The use of communicative methods seems intrinsic to education, with speech and talking being main constitutive components of such methodologies. Dialogic teaching, reliant on the communication of ideas and concepts from teacher to student and the receiving of feedback from student to teacher, becomes an essential approach in education. The contributions of theorists such as Barnes, Mercer, and Alexander to the improvement of teaching methods lay the groundwork for the continuous implementation of dialogic teaching on a wide-scale basis within the education system.
Douglas Barnes
To understand the advancement of dialogic teaching, one must understand the roots of the idea’s development, acquiring knowledge of the original conception. The main aim of dialogic teaching angles at eliciting student responses based on the commonality of information and their general experience, thus developing student’s common sense (Dialogic: faculty of education 2018). Barnes was one of the first theorists that developed the separation between the transmission and interpretation of information, calling for a balance in the pathways of knowledge among students and teachers (Jones, Myhill & Hopper 2006). Thus, dialogic thinking becomes shaped by an approach that calls for the exchange of ideas and their correction by an educator.
Neil Mercer
The creation of a conception calls for the development of a set of methodological approaches and the highlighting of its uses as a theory. The contribution of Mercer was in the outlining of communicative learning and dialogic techniques in teaching such as recap, elicitation, repetition, reformulation, and exhortation (Jones, Myhill & Hopper 2006). Bearne and Reedy (2018) in their theories of early language acquisition stress that children learn new conceptions through complex dialogue with others, children and adults alike.
Mercer’s outlining of distinct methods of conveying information exists as a base of useful approaches, therefore creating specific guidelines for each manner of teacher-student conversation. Hence, the outlining of the dialogue prevalent in classroom-communication solidifies the complex development of dialogical teaching, its core components, and specialization.
Robin Alexander
The development of a country-specific method of learning becomes the epitome of theory application, and its contrast with other types of dialogical learning allows for the discerning of social specifics. Dialogic teaching is the ability to “[harness] the power of talk to stimulate and extend students’ thinking and advance their learning and understanding” (Alexander 2017, para. 1). The features of dialogic teaching through scaffolding and “cumulative questioning,” as highlighted by Alexander, have become actively used in UK classrooms (Jones, Myhill & Hopper 2006, p. 26).
Inquiries into the topic have found that “the [dialogic] approach may improve children’s overall thinking and learning skills rather than their knowledge in a given topic” (Dialogic teaching 2018, para. 3). The meaning of this finding could be that the techniques outlined by Alexander stimulate the improvement of student’s critical thinking skills, not granting subject specialisation but creating a set of multi-topic appropriate mental tools.
Conclusion
It is possible, through a study of the theorists’ work presented above, to determine the place of speech in learning, identified as talking with students and allowing them to discuss the taught material between themselves. The contributions of Barnes, Mercer, and Alexander allow tracing the pattern of dialogical learning’s development, each of them contributing a significant part to its becoming as a complex school-worthy approach. Through their works, talk within a classroom setting changes from being a one-sided monologue to a system of information relay, which not only allows apperception of new material but also the development of mental skills.
Reference List
Alexander, R 2017, Dialogic teaching. Web.
Bearne, E & Reedy, D 2018, Teaching primary English: subject knowledge and classroom practice, New York, NY: Routledge.
Dialogic teaching. 2018. Web.
Dialogic: faculty of education 2018. Web.
Jones, S, Myhill, D, & Hopper, R 2006, Talking, listening, learning: effective talk in the primary classroom, New York, NY: Open University Press.