Abstract
This small case study investigated the use of the Quality Talk framework to empower students to pool their knowledge in group discussions around a novel topic or event. The main goals of the Quality Talk approach were to provide teachers with a prescriptive framework for increasing their students’ critical-analytical thinking by providing greater opportunity for student voice. The quasi-experimental methodology involved students and a teacher from a low socioeconomic secondary school in a large city in New Zealand in the curriculum area of Geography. The students, on self-report, identified as coming from predominantly Pasifika backgrounds. Following the intervention and additional opportunities to conduct group discussions, many of the students identified how other opinions contributed to their understanding of the topic. An episode of talk is considered a ‘dialogic spell’, rather than a discussion, if the discussion begins with a student’s question and is followed by at least two more questions from other students. When students used higher numbers of uptake questions and high-level questions, they increased their levels of ‘dialogic spell’. The students’ increase of critical-analytical thinking in their pre- and post-test was assessed and graded. The study was important because it also showed that when the teacher relinquished their role as facilitator of the discussions, the students self-facilitated the dialogue amongst themselves.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Change history
12 February 2024
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44020-024-00057-7
References
Alexander, R. (2006). Towards dialogic thinking: Rethinking classroom talk. York, United Kingdom: Dialogos.
Beck, J. (2013). Powerful knowledge, esoteric knowledge, curriculum knowledge. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43 (2), 177–193. doi:10.1080/0305764X.2013.767880
Bishop, R. & Berryman, M. (2010). Te kotahitanga: Culturally responsive professional development for teachers. Teacher Development, 14 (2), 173–187. doi:10.1080/13664530.2010.494497
Boyatzis, R. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Chinn, C.A., Anderson, R.C. & Waggoner, M. (2001). Patterns of discourse in two kinds of literature discussions. Reading Research Quarterly, 36 (4), 378–411. doi:10.1598/RRQ.36.4.3
Corbin, J. & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research. London, United Kingdom: Sage.
Davies, M. & Meissel, K. (2016). The use of Quality Talk to increase critical analytical speaking and writing of students in three secondary schools. British Educational Research Journal, 42 (2), 342–365. doi:10.1002/berj.3210
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Collier Books.
Grant, C. & Sleeter, C. (2011). Doing multicultural education for achievement and equity. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hatch, J. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Herbel-Eisenmann, B.A., Steele, M.D. & Cirillo, M. (2013). (Developing) teacher discourse moves: A framework for professional development. Mathematics Teacher Educator, 1 (2), 181–196. doi:10.5951/mathteaceduc.1.2.0181
Hipkins, R., Johnston, M. & Sheehan, M. (2016). NCEA in context. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press.
Howe, C., Hennessy, S., Mercer, N., Vrikki, M. & Wheatley, L. (2019). Teacher-student dialogue during classroom teaching: Does it really impact on student outcomes? The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 1–51. doi:10.1080/10508406.2019.1573730
Janks, H. (2010). Literacy and power. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Ladson-Billings, G.J. & Tate, W. (2006). Education research in the public interest: Social justice, action, and policy. New York: NY: Teachers College Press.
Lareau, A. (2012). Using the terms hypothesis and variable for qualitative work: A critical reflection. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74 (4), 671–677. doi:10.1111/j.1741–3737.2012.00980.x
Littleton, K. & Mercer, N. (2013). Interthinking: Putting talk to work, Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Mehan, H. (1979). The study of social interactions in educational settings: Accomplishments and unresolved issues. Human Development, 41, 245–269.
Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R. & Sams, C. (2004). Reasoning as a scientist: Ways of helping children to use language to learn science. British Educational Research Journal, 30 (3), 359–377. doi:10.1080/01411920410001689689
Ministry of Education. (2011). Tātaiako: Cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
Ministry of Education. (2018). Tapasā: Cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
Murphy, P.K., Firetto, C.M. & Greene, J.A. (2017). Enriching students’ scientific thinking through relational reasoning: Seeking evidence in texts, tasks, and talk. Educational Psychology Review, 29 (1), 105–117. doi:10.1007/s10648–016–9387-x
Murphy, P.K., Greene, J.A., Allen, E., Baszczewski, S., Swearingen, A., Wei, L. & Butler, A.M. (2018). Fostering high school students’ conceptual understanding and argumentation performance in science through Quality Talk discussions. Science Education, 102 (6), 1239–1264. doi:10.1002/sce.21471
Murphy, P.K., Rowe, M.L., Ramani, G. & Silverman, R. (2014). Promoting critical-analytic thinking in children and adolescents at home and in school. Educational Psychology Review, 26 (4), 561–578. doi:10.1007/s10648–014–9281–3
Murphy, P.K., Wilkinson, I.A.G., Soter, A.O., Hennessey, M.N. & Alexander, J.F. (2009). Examining the effects of classroom discussion on students’ high-level comprehension of text: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101 (3), 740–764. doi:10.1037/a0015576
Nystrand, M., Wu, L.L., Gamoran, A., Zeiser, S. & Long, D. (2003). Questions in time: Investigating the structure and dynamics of unfolding classroom discourse. Discourse Processes, 35 (2), 135–198. doi:10.1207/S15326950DP3502_3
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2013). PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn: students’ engagement, drive and self-beliefs (Volume III): Preliminary version. Programme for International Student Assessment, OECD. Paris, France. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-volume-iii.htm.
Quality Talk (2012). Quality Talk Summary. Retrieved from http://www.quality-talk.org/summary.html
Rata, E. (2016). A pedagogy of conceptual progression and the case for academic knowledge. British Educational Research Journal, 42 (1), 168–184. doi:10.1002/berj.3195
Smith, H. & Higgins, S. (2006). Opening classroom interaction: The importance of feedback. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36 (4), 485–502. doi:10.1080/03057640601048357
Soter, A.O., Wilkinson, I.A.G., Murphy, P.K., Rudge, L. & Reninger, K.B. (2016). Analyzing the discourse of discussion: Coding manual (Version 20). Ohio State University. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4171.4163
Wade, S., Thompson, A. & Watkins, W. (1994). The role of belief systems in authors’ and readers’ constructions of texts. In R. Garner & P.A. Alexander (Eds.), Beliefs about text and instruction with text (pp. 265–293). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wei, L., Murphy, K. & Firetto, C. (2018). How can teachers facilitate productive small-group talk? An integrated taxonomy of teacher discourse moves. Elementary School Journal, 118 (4), 578–609. doi:10.1086/697531
Wilkinson, I.A.G., Soter, A.O. & Murphy, P.K. (2010). Developing a model of quality talk about literary text. In M.G. McKeown & L. Kucan (Eds.), Bringing reading researchers to life: Essays in honor of Isabel L. Beck (pp. 142–169). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Young, M. (2013). Powerful knowledge: An analytically useful concept or just a ‘sexy sounding term’? A response to John Beck’s ‘Powerful knowledge, esoteric knowledge, curriculum knowledge.’ Cambridge Journal of Education, 43 (2), 195–198, doi:10.1080/0305764X.2013.776356
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Davies, M.J., Esling, S. The use of Quality Talk to foster critical thinking in a low socio-economic secondary Geography classroom. AJLL 43, 109–122 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03652047
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03652047