How Dialogic Are Discussions About Literary Texts in Language Arts Lessons in the Czech Republic?

• In Event: The Role of Texts in Dialogic Teaching

Abstract

The concept of dialogic teaching currently has many proponents in the educational sciences (see, for example, Kim & Wilkinson, 2019). One key theoretical source is Bakhtin’s (1986) concept of dialogism as switching between various mental perspectives and the interanimation of different voices. It is suggested that quality teaching should thoughtfully switch between authoritative and dialogic approaches (Lehesvuori et al., 2017), but the authoritative approach remains dominant in ordinary classrooms (Sedova, Salamounova, & Svaricek, 2014).

The purpose of this contribution is to investigate data from language art lessons in Czech middle school. We focus on how teachers work with literary texts. Literary texts are supposed to have the potential to elicit discussion and dialogue (Schrijvers, Janssen, Fialho, de Maeyer, & Rijlaarsdam, 2019) as they are inherently dialogic (Bahktin, 1986). We investigate whether dealing with texts makes the classroom discourse dialogic.

We used data gathered in eight Czech middle school classrooms. In each classroom, we conducted a series of video recordings (six to nine recordings in each classroom), and we also repeatedly interviewed teachers, as well as some of the students. We analyzed the transcripts of video recordings using linguistic ethnography methods (Maybin & Tusting, 2011).

The data show that there are five different patterns observable in our sample of lessons:
1) Calling for the factual information taken from the text;
2) Constructing new knowledge using hints from the text;
3) Forcing students to express their ideas invoked by the text;
4) Having a good and entertaining time with the text;
5) Reflecting deeply on the problems and dilemmas contained in the text.

These five patterns are, to varying degrees, authoritative/dialogic and interactive/non-interactive (Mortimer & Scott, 2003). They are also, to varying degrees, purposeful in relation to curriculum (Alexander, 2006). The detailed characteristics of individual patterns are discussed in the contribution, as are the specific learning opportunities they offer to students and the specific limitations and possible risks of using them in the classroom.

Authors

• Klara Sedova, Masaryk University

• Roman Švaříček, Masaryk University