D ialogic t eaching ,cooperative learning and the EFL classroom Dr Margaret Kettle

1. Dialogic teaching,cooperative learningand the EFL classroom Dr Margaret Kettle Faculty of Education QUT Australia

2. Overview • Defining dialogic teaching • Classroom talk for teaching and learning • Talk in the EL classroom • Language in the classroom: functions • A classroom case study • Implications for the Chinese EFL classroom • Pedagogic models: Content-focused, language-focused • Summary: Teaching, classroom talk and cooperative learning.

3. Focus of presentation • Acute interest in teaching in Australia and internationally • Interest is in teaching as dialogue to emphasise and foreground classroom talk • What talk promotes what learning? • Testing doesn’t make a student learn more; teaching does. (Alexander, 2010) • Linking learning to teaching: • this does not preclude cooperative learning, • this does not mean teacher-centred teaching.

4. Focus of presentation Defining dialogic teaching: Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk to engage (students), stimulate and extend their thinking, and advance their learning and understanding. (Alexander 2008, p. 185)

5. Classroom talk for teaching and learning (adapted from Alexander, 2008) • Classroom talk: social and cognitive/learningpurposes • Important not to prioritise one over the other; • English classrooms; • Emphasis on social can be cognitively undemanding if feedback not focused on learning. • 2. The distinction between conversation(locally-managed) and dialogue(teacher-managed): • Continuity of interaction through questions and responses leads to cumulation of knowledge and concepts.

6. Talk for teaching and learning (adapted from Alexander, 2008) • This does not mean teacher-centredness: • classroom interaction patterns (Initiation-Response-Evaluation) dominated by teacher • Rather through task design and classroom organisation, these interactions can be student-student • Depends on aims of lesson: e.g. language (grammar, vocabulary, macroskills) presentation and mechanical practice, meaningful production, content-based.

7. Talk for teaching and learning (adapted from Alexander, 2008) Talk for teaching: Rote (t-class): drilling of facts, ideas and routines Recitation (t-class; t-group): accumulation of knowledge through questioning; cueing students Instruction/exposition (t-class; t-group; t-individual): imparting information, explaining, giving instructions Discussion (t-class/group/individual; st-sts; st-st): exchanging ideas to share information and solve problems Dialogue (t-class/group/individual; st-sts; st-st): “achieving common understanding through structured and cumulative questioning and discussion which guide and prompt … and expedite ‘handover’ of concepts and principles (p. 186).

8. Talk for teaching and learning (adapted from Alexander, 2008) • Talk for learning: • narrate • explain • ask different questions • receive, act and build on answers • analyse and solve problems • speculate • discuss • argue, reason, justify • negotiate

9. Talk in the EL classroom: Questioning (adapted from Murray & Christison, 2011) • Two sets of questions: • i. Lower-order questions – factual • - recall, comprehension, application • ii. Higher-order questions – thought-provoking • - analysis, synthesis, evaluation • 2. Managing questioning and interaction: • i. feedback; • ii. wait time; • iii. question distribution.

10. Review • What is talk for teaching: who can undertake it and how can it be organised? • What is talk for learning: who can undertake it and how can it be organised? • How does this link to cooperative learning?

11. Teaching and learning in the language classroom Language in the classroom fulfils three functions (Cazden, 2001) : • build content knowledge; • establish and maintain social relationships; • self-representation and identifying. How do we teach so our students can accomplish these functions when they are using English as a Foreign Language?

12. A classroom case study Study: Investigatingteaching ina Master of Educationcourse. Data: Interviews, classroom videos, observations, teaching evaluations. Aim: What makes for highly effective teaching with L2 students?

13. The participants • The teacher: A senior academic with a reputation for teaching excellence • Six international students: • Anna (China), Erica (Singapore), Grace (Mozambique), Hanh (Vietnam), Javier (Argentina), Sonny (Thailand)

14. The course • MEd course: Issues in Education and Leadership • University: A large, Australian university • Semester: 13 weeks • Class: 10 international students; 11 domestic • Course design: • - three-hour weekly sessions of seminar-style classes; • - two pieces of written assessment: • - an extended literature review (40%) • - a critical discussion (60%)

15. 1a: Assembling topics/disciplinary knowledge

16. What is happening? • Assembling topically-related sets (Mehan, 1979) in a lesson on leadership • Continuous and cumulative questioning by teacher • Student-centred (IRE): asking questions, discussing, arguing and justifying, negotiating • Demarcating topics – the prerogative of the teacher. • Topics linked to theconceptual framework of the lesson and the course.

17. Student response: Anna Even though sometimes I feel a bit uncomfortable because the questions she’s asking, maybe I don’t know how to answer but you know that feels good. It’s a big challenge for me. … It (the Issues in Education and Leadership course) helps you to be more critical because when I participate in the discussion in class, I begin to think.

18. 1b. Reformulating knowledge

19. What is happening? • Teacher is ‘revoicing’students’ contributions in disciplinary terms and concepts. • Reconceptualising students’ existing knowledge into more ‘culturally mature formulations’(Cazden, 2001, p. 76). • Providing new ways of thinking and talking about the topic. • Often accompanied by gestures: ‘message abundancy’ (Gibbons, 2003)

20. 1c. Building ‘other’ knowledge: Strategies for learning Teacher So when you’re reading, try to get a sense all the time of where you’re going to. Don’t just start the chapter. Flip through; look at it. You might want to read the introductory paragraph; you might want to read the concluding paragraph. But don’t just sit down and settle into the text before you’ve had a look around it. (Week Three )

21. 1c. Building ‘other’ knowledge: Strategies for learning Anna  One of her unique methods, she’s teaching you something like techniques of reading or writing. I think that’s good especially for Asian or international students – they are not quite used to this kind of writing style. She’s helping us gradually to adapt to this kind of writing and also through this kind of style, you realise the author is organising this way and then you understand it in a better way.

22. What is happening? • Explicit teaching of academic strategies: • induction into the practices of the academic context; • encouraging learner autonomy; • teaching management of reading task (metacognitive), summarising and understanding of content (cognitive); provision of support (social/affective). • unusual for a postgraduate class; more EAP.

23. 2. Promoting social relations and participation Teacher uses two prominent strategies to promote student participation in lessons: 1. Attribution a) What Tom is suggesting to us is … b) …and that relates to what Javier was saying that it is actually easier to lead from a position of power. 2. ‘Cued elicitation’ (Mercer, 1995).

25. What is happening? • Cued elicitation through nomination. • Scaffolding students’ contributions. • Opportunities provided to rehear and formulate response before public performance. • ‘Naming’ considered very useful by Sonny: • Names student to say something – very, very good. Stimulates ideas for students. Makes me try to understand and say something that will show my idea. • Teacher as supportive ‘other’, providing interactive possibilities (Kettle, 2005).

26. 3. Self-representation and identifying • Sonny • For the first time, it was very difficult to get involved in class activity. In Thailand, there’s no problem – It’s OK if a student just sits and listen but here …I feel very ashamed for myself after I don’t have participation in class just like I am nobody. I can’t even express my ideas in class. It’s very hard and very uncomfortable… • … but right now I think I’m better. I’m more know what they want to express and still a problem how to express my ideas… • For t • … but right now I think I’m better. I’m know more what they want to express and still a problem for me how to express my ideas … • the first time, it was very difficult to get myself involved in class activity. In Thailand, there’s no problem – it’s OK if a student just sits and listen

27. What is happening? • Classroom talk is important for: • presenting and conceptualising ideas • contributing to the class • self-representing in the class group • How you ‘sound’ and are ‘heard’ is very important for legitimacy (motivation, confidence, self-value): ‘audibility’(Kettle, 2005; Miller, 2003)

28. Review • Learning cooperatively in a L2 to build: • content knowledge; • social relations • positive self-representations. • Achieved through different types of teaching talk and learning talk.

29. Implications for the Chinese EFL classroom

30. Content-focused: A pedagogic cycle for text construction (Hammond & Macken-Horarik, 1999)

31. Language-focused: The task cycle for language presentation and practice (Shehadah, 2006; Willis, 1995):

32. Teaching, classroom talk and cooperative learning content, social relations, identity

33. Thank you. m.kettle@qut.edu.au

34. References Alexander, R. (2008). Essays on pedagogy. London: Routledge. Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Gibbons, P. (2003). Mediating language learning: Teacher interactions with ESL students in a content-based classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 247-273. Hammond, J & Macken-Horarik, M. (1999). Critical literacy: Challenges and questions for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 528-544. Kettle, M. (2005). Agency as a discursive practice: From ‘nobody’ to ‘somebody’ as an international student in Australia. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. 25(1), 45-60. Mehan, H. (1979). Learning Lessons. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

35. References • Mercer, N. (1995). The guided construction of knowledge: Talk amongst teachers and learners. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. • Miller, J. (2003). Audible difference: ESL and social identity in schools. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. • Murray, D. & Christison, M.A. (2011). What English language teachers need to know – Volume II: Facilitating learning. New York: Routledge. • Shehadeh, A. (2005). Task-based language learning and teaching: Theories and applications. In C. Edwards & J. Willis. (Eds.) Teachers exploring tasks in English language teaching. (pp. 13-30). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.