"Listen up": Understanding the multidimensionality of listening in a dialogic classroom

A problem in pedagogy is that listening and speaking, as intricately interconnected interactional phenomena, are often treated separately. In classroom discussions, attention is predominately drawn to vocalisation as the key element of dialogue. This paper aims to draw attention to intricacies and multidimensionality of listening in classroom discussions and consider how these multiple dimensions align with a dialogic ideology. Drawing on practitioner action research conducted in elementary classrooms where teachers deliberately sought to promote dialogic pedagogy, we examine transcripts to further understand how listening is connected to recipiency, meaning-making and co-produced in interaction. Conversation analysis delineates five turn-structures constitutive of listening actively. We argue that teacher knowledge of these realms of listening will assist teachers recognise ‘active” listening among students.