Raising the pedagogical bar: Teachers’ co-construction of explicit teaching

Abstract

Recent shifts in the conceptualization of effective literacy teaching have focused on the need for teachers to make teaching explicit (Edwards-Groves, 2010; Purcell-Gates, Duke, & Martineau, 2007; Rosenshine, 1986) or in Hattie’s (2005) terms, learning ‘visible’. Research has shown that the analysis of classroom interactive dialogue can provide a sound basis to examine the quality of teaching and learning. For instance, it has been established that the more teachers use the metalanguage relevant to their lesson in their pedagogical talk the more effective students’ learning (Louden et al., 2005). This research examines selected approaches to the evaluation of teacher–student/s classroom dialogue and their ability to identify how teachers support and facilitate students’ learning and engagement. It reports on 63 teachers’ group co-constructions (concept maps) of their understandings of explicit teaching that take into account the role of classroom interactive talk. A mind map is developed to synthesize the resultant concept maps (11) and explore their conceptualization of students’ learning and construction of knowledge.