Introduction

We do not plan to rehearse or weigh up the relative merits of inclusive and exclusive definitions of dialogue. As will become clear, the contributors to this volume take a variety of stances on the issue (and also over what constitutes productive dialogue), and we see little merit in prioritizing one approach over others. For us, the importance of the variability is that it highlights the concerns that have been expressed in respect of the productivity of educational dialogues, specifically the nature and quality of classroom talk, for about 40 years. Therefore, it allows us to introduce some of the book’s central themes. Talk is obviously a pervasive feature of schooling. Indeed, few scholars would query Flanders’ (1970) conclusion that, within classrooms, about two-thirds of the time someone is talking. However, there is widespread suspicion that most classroom talk is non-conversational, that is it does not even comply with the broad, dictionary definition of dialogue. At the same time, many people suspect that when conversation does occur in classrooms, it is relatively superficial and circumspect. In other words, it does not comply either with a deeper, more exclusive conception of dialogue. Whether

this conception coincides with Bakhtin’s is an open question, although as will become clear as the book proceeds, many scholars see parallels. In any event, concerns about classroom talk have led to research which attempts to understand and chart what actually takes place. As the results of this research provide a useful backcloth to the chapters that follow, we shall begin with a short summary.