Creating Space for Dialogic Conversations With Young Children: Looking Into Vivian Paley's Classroom

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Early Childhood Conversations and Practices (Table 12)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine dialogic discourse in early childhood classrooms in an attempt to understand the characteristics and nature of dialogic talk with young children. Employing sociocultural discourse analysis, we analyzed Vivian Paley’s books documenting conversations with five-year-olds in her kindergarten classroom. Findings show numerous uninterrupted multi-turn exchanges despite the teacher’s challenging questions and, at times, authoritative voice. Also, we noted that Paley frequently used low modality words, such as “I doubt”, “might”, or “could” to open spaces for students to explore their ideas and negotiate meanings. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Joowon Lee, The Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Ian A. G. Wilkinson, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author