ABSTRACT
A dialogic approach to pedagogy is crucially different from a view of education as the transmission of knowledge, with its concommittant attempts to erase diversity as far as possible. The monologic view of language that Rommetveit had in his sights in writing of the myth of literal meaning is shared by many approaches to linguistics and the cognitive sciences. However, appeals to construct sociocultural or dialogic alternatives come from many sources. Writing in the 1930s, Vygotsky argued that an essential element of creativity is imagination. In childhood play, this is an essential part of coming to understand the world, of playing with difference and projecting oneself into different kinds of situation. In adolescence and adulthood, if material and social conditions are supportive, imagination is needed for a more profound penetration of reality.
