ABSTRACT
In whole class teaching, it is through verbal interactions that teachers and students engage with one another to exchange ideas and opinions. Research suggests that the nature of classroom discourse has a substantial influence on how and what students learn. The chapter begins by summarizing evidence on teachers’ discourse practice in mainstream classrooms. It points at limitations of authoritative discourse and draws attention to dialogic discourse wherein students are seen as active learners who collaboratively construct knowledge through the open exchange of different ideas and perspectives. In recent years, there have been several professional development (PD) efforts to shift teachers’ discourse pedagogy from recitation towards dialogic discourse. In this chapter, we present our own efforts to promote teachers’ discourse practice by introducing the DIALOGUE study. The goal of this study was to investigate whether teachers’ discourse practice could be changed through the participation in a year-long PD program. The developed PD program and its central design considerations are discussed. The DIALOGUE study highlights that PD is a powerful tool to foster change in teachers’ discourse practice and that practice changes are related to changes in student learning and motivation. Evaluation results further draw attention to teachers’ individual starting conditions and their impact on teachers’ diverse development during PD participation. The chapter concludes with recommendations for designing future PD programs.
