Understanding and embracing contradictions: an exploration of high school English teachers’ beliefs about whole-class discussion

Like a conductor: whole-class discussion in English classrooms

“…Another finding was in the teachers’ desire to remove themselves from the classroom (Author, 2018), as Nancy did in her discussions. She believed this was the only way that she could lead a true dialogic discussion, as evidenced by her comments in the interview; however, she used clear procedures to maintain control, and taught the students how to respond to each other.…”

“…During the second semester, the English faculty at each school were approached in department meetings, and asked if they would participate in a study on discussion in the classroom. Overall, 15 teachers agreed to participate in interviews (Author, 2018), and 4 also agreed to participate in observations (Table I). Those teachers were asked to choose a class period when they believed they would be leading a class discussion.…”

“…First, dialogic instruction, in its various forms, helps student learning (Kim and Wilkinson, 2019; Wilkinson et al , 2017; Nystrand, 2006). Second, dialogic instruction is difficult to fully enact in the classroom, and teachers struggle with their roles, and with the students’ roles (Author, 2018; Christoph and Nystrand, 2001; Juzwik et al , 2008; Wikinson et al , 2017). For example, Dunn (2018) described a teacher engaged in becoming more dialogic in the classroom, but ultimately expressing contradictory thoughts as she tried to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders.…”

“…Despite hard-working teachers and well-designed lessons, many teachers spend most of the class talking to the students or directing them through an interpretation, and students spend most of the class listening or working on their own. In an effort to better understand how English teachers view whole-class discussions in their classrooms, I interviewed 15 teachers (Reynolds, 2018). They talked about a desire for student-led discussions but also a fear of losing control of the classroom.…”

English Disciplinary Literacy: Enhancing Students’ Literary Interpretive Moves

“…In addition to writing in journals, students can use their voices in the classroom. English teachers often tout discussion as one of the high‐quality instructional strategies to use in their classroom, despite some feelings of uneasiness about unpredictability (Reynolds, 2018). Although it is true that discussion is used in many classrooms, too often those discussions are focused on students finding evidence for teachers’ interpretations or answering questions that have prespecified answers (Wilkinson et al, 2017).…”