Expanding the Parameters of Exploratory Talk

• In Event: Democratic Citizenship in Education Paper Session 2

Abstract

In this paper, I argue for a newly articulated system for coding instances of exploratory talk in classroom discourse that treats the facilitator as an equal participant in the dialogue. First, I define exploratory talk and explore a number of examples that were analyzed using the data-analytic coding rules delineated by Soter et al. (2007). Then, I propose expanding the rules for exploratory talk outlined by Soter et al. (2007) and suggest coding facilitator utterances as substantive contributions to the dialogue not intrusive interjections to the discourse. I argue that this approach recognizes the facilitator as an equal participant in the dialogue who is positioned to model good inquiry, cultivate shared possession of the discourse and redistribute power amongst participants.

Author

• Monica B. Glina, University of Oslo