Bakhtin's language theories give educators a view into how people develop and communicate with language through dialogue. These conceptions can be applied to teaching in a variety of positive ways.
The authors explore how teaching based on Bakhtinian concepts might function in the classroom, paying particular attention to the concepts of dialogue, heteroglossia, carnival, and hybridity. Although they do not provide a specific model, they refer to five pedagogical practices that might take place:
Raising questions and authoring responses by and among all participants
Embracing the importance of context and the non‐neutrality of language
Encouraging multiples perspectives
Flattening or creating disturbance within existing hierarchies
Agreeing that learning is under construction and evolving rather than reified and static
The authors argue that a dialogic classroom is one where language is central to a meaning‐making process that, in turn, informs us about language. By opening up dialogue within classroom contexts by reference to Bakhtinian theories, the authors see opportunities for increased student engagement, more voices within classrooms, and more invigorating academic activities.
In this article we introduce tension as a means for qualitative data analysis based on Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogical theory. We first explain the foundations of Bakhtin's theory and show the inevitability of tension in our lives and qualitative data analysis. We then offer a review of how Bakhtin's notion of tension has manifested itself in qualitative research, which prompts us to establish a tensional approach to qualitative data analysis. Finally, we outline our framework for a tensional approach to data analysis and illustrate examples of putting this approach into practice in our own study. Our tensional approach (1) explores key moments of tension; (2) seeks out unease and discomfort; (3) involves researcher and research participants in ongoing dialogue; (4) and embraces multiple perspectives on a range of tensions during the data analysis process. It encourages uncertainties and questions instead of pursuing certainty of meaning and fixed conclusions.
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