Changing talk and interaction for dialogic teaching in an early years’ literacy classroom

Dialogic teaching emphasizes changes to classroom interaction to promote student participation, yet there are still few studies which investigate how this might occur in early years’ literacy classrooms. This practitioner action research study focuses on one classroom teacher’s journey as she implemented a range of dialogic strategies to promote student talk, aiming to create a richer learning environment in a Kindergarten and Year One elementary classroom. Changes were made over a six‐month period and these were documented using a reflective journal, video and audio recordings of classroom lessons and transcript analysis of those. Classroom talk was coded according to types of interactions, and the number of interactions produced by students and the teacher. Patterns in turn‐taking and language use were identified and
compared over time as various strategies were implemented. As a result of changes, a more dialogic classroom environment developed providing increased opportunities for students’ voices to be heard, particularly through promoting student‐to‐student interactions during class discussions.