What's the use of 'triadic dialogue'?: an investigation of teacher-student interaction

“…taking sociocultural perspectives have examined classroom interactions or discourse patterns with an eye toward identifying those that best facilitate student participation (Gutierrez, Rymes, & Larsen, 1995; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Nystrand, Gamoran, Zeiser, & Long, 2003; Tharp & Gallimore, 1991).”

“In general, however, there was little systematic difference between science and arts topics (Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“…of launching the unit and planning subsequent activities, and episodes concerned with checking on what had been learned, tended to be characterized by shorter sequences of talk on a particular issue and a higher proportion of evaluative responses to student contributions [Nassaji & Wells, 2000].”

“These strategies are typical of ordinary conversation or teacher– students interaction in L1 subject-matter classrooms (see Nassaji & Wells, 2000 ).”

“In general, the classroom discourse followed the predictable, teacher-controlled IRE (Initiation–Response– Evaluation) pattern that has been widely attested in the literature (e.g., Bellack et al., 1966; Mehan, 1979; Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“It forms the basis of interactive guidance that can be freed of the quizzing and guessing routines which have been shown to dominate classroom interaction (Sinclair & Coulthard 1975; Mehan 1979; Edwards & Westgate 1987; Tharp & Gallimore 1991; Nystrand & Gamoran 1991; Nystrand 1997; van Lier 1996;…”

“Even when teachers substitute nonjudgmental follow-up for evaluation as the final move of this sequence (IRF instead of IRE), the consequence is to return control of the topic to the teacher after each student utterance; little chaining among student responses occurs (Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“(Nassaji and Wells 2000, 33) More recently, Alexander (2004) has also cited research from developmental psychology, neuroscience and sociolinguistic research as well as a range of classroom studies to present ‘Dialogic Teaching’ as an approach that: … demands both pupil engagement and teacher…”

“…nature of classroom talk and signs of a willingness to re-assess the pedagogic value of interaction patterns which had previously been seen by many as relatively unproductive in terms of language learning (e.g. Seedhouse 1996; Jarvis and Robinson 1997; Wells 1999: 167–208; Nassaji and Wells 2000).”

“This is the view argued by Nassaji and Wells ( 2000 , p.”

“The triadic dialogue can serve many different functions (Lin 2007; Nassaji and Wells 2000), some are more dialogic than others.”

“To make discussions more dialogic and inquiry-based, Nassaji and Wells (2000) argued that altering the evaluative portion of the triadic dialogue to include nonjudgment evaluations, such as follow-up questions (IRF), moves discussions toward dialogic conversations.”

“…as the hallmark of conventional pedagogic discourse (also referred to as ‘triadic dialogue’ and ‘recitation’), responsible for engendering pupils’ low level of communicative engagement (Mercer 1995; Nassaji and Wells 2000; Nystrand et al. 2003; Alexander 2008; Mercer et al. 2009; Lyle 2008).”

“Recent research has shifted more towards focusing in particular on looking at how teacher talk can best support learning, through, for example, the use of the F-move (Jarvis and Robinson 1997; Cullen 1998, 2002; Nassaji and Wells 2000; Kasper 2001; Walsh 2002).”

“…type items as possible in a session), Jenny starts off a series of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) triadic dialogues (Heap 1985; Lin 2007; Mehan 1979; Nassaji and Wells 2000; Sinclair and Coulthard 1975) to engage students in explaining how one can prove that air takes up space and has mass.”

“Each sequence consists of an exchange and each exchange consists of obligatory Initiating and Responding moves and may also contain a Follow up move (Nassaji and Wells, 2000: 383).”

“1997 ; Nassaji and Wells 2000 ; Alexander 2001 , Abd‐Kadir and Hardman 2007 ).”

“…recognized (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975; Mehan, 1979; Cazden, 1986; French and McLure, 1981; Wilkinson, 1982; McHoul, 1978; Levinson, 1992; Mercer, 1995; Galton et al., 1999; Nassaji and Wells, 2000; Nystrand et al., 2003) and which is claimed, by some, to have come down all the way from Socrates.”

“…1979a; Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975), the so-called ubiquity of the three-part model has been generally considered the template for instruction talk-in-interaction (Drew, 1981; Hellerman, 2003, 2005; Lerner, 1995; McHoul, 1978; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Nystrand, Wu, Gamoran, Zeiser, & Long, 2003).”

“These findings align with a half century of continuing research (see, e.g., Cazden, 2001; Dillon, 1984; Mehan, 1979; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Nystrand & Gamoran, 1991; Soter et al., 2008) documenting how traditional teachers tightly control the pacing and scope of classroom talk through recitative…”

“For example, Sacks (1992a) claims that speakers often start their talk with a prefacing ‘false first’ or ‘transitional first’ topic, which is either exhausted quickly before moving on to other matters or is used to introduce other mentionables.”

“As in most traditional classrooms reported in the literature (Mehan 1979; Nassaji and Wells 2000; Wells 1999), the typical discourse interaction in the Singapore classroom is the IRE (initiation-response-evaluation) pattern (Lossman and So 2010).”

“…more likely to occur in curricular activities that were concerned with planning for, carrying out and interpreting the results of inquiries, in which students had considerable responsibility for choosing the specific topic and the method for their investigations (Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“…thoughtful answers, and by paying attention to what they do with those answers in the follow-up move (i.e. asking pupils to expand on their thinking, justify or clarify their opinions, or make connections to their own experiences [Alexander, 2004; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Nystrand et al., 1997]).”

“In this way, the teacher could assess the conceptual foundation upon which students’ responses rested, and guide students to engage in more sophisticated forms of reasoning (Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“However, research (e.g. Dillon, 1994; Nystrand et al., 1997; Wells, 1993; Wood, 1992; Nassaji & Wells, 2000) suggests that the ‘initiation-response-feedback’ (IRF) structure can take a variety of forms and functions leading to different levels of pupil participation and engagement, particularly…”

“We see common patterns in all of these extracts, each of which is a variant of the extended initiation, reply, evaluation sequences identified in many studies of standard classroom interaction (e.g. Mehan, 1979; Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“Using data from science, language arts, and history in elementary and middle schools, Wells and colleagues (Wells & Arauz, 2006; Nassaji & Wells, 2000) developed the Developing Inquiring Communities in Education Project (DICEP) coding scheme to look at changes in the characteristics of…”

“Its features, dominance and criticism are widely discussed in the educational literature (Mercer, 1995; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Wells, 1993).”

“particular issue and a higher proportion of evaluative responses to student contributions ( Nassaji and Wells 2000 ).”

“…and has been used to encourage students’ explanation, elaboration or extension of their ideas in TLD (Consolo, 2000; Duff, 2000; Hall & Walsh, 2002; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Park, 2014), in other words, to enact the pedagogical goals of classroom context mode, Tamara’s exclusive focus in this turn…”

“(Brogan and Brogan, 1995; Dysthe, 1996; Freire, 2000; McCarthey, 1994; Nassaji and Wells, 2000; Padilla, 1992; Vygotsky, 1978) 4. Dialogue as a basis for collaboration, collegiality, and community among professionals (John-Steiner, Weber, and Minnis, 1998; Palmer, 1993) 5. Its role in facilitating relationships among…”

“…that teachers adopt more DO questioning practices, others have argued that a balance between authoritative and dialogic sequences is necessary given the diverse goals that teachers establish for their students (Aguiar et al., 2010; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Scott et al., 2006; Tan & Wong, 2012).”

“IRE has been observed to account for up to 70% of teacher–student classroom interactions in the classroom (Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Wells, 1999), and is continuously reproduced as part of institutionalized schooling.”

“…more dialogic patterns of interaction in order to expand or facilitate student contributions that potentially enhance opportunities for learning (e.g. Cazden 2001; Gibbons 2002; Hall 1997; Jacknick 2011; Nassaji and Wells 2000; Nystrand 1997, 2006; Nystrand et al. 2010; Wells and Mejia-Arauz 2009).”

“Scholars (e.g., Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Cullen, 2002) have recommended that teachers manipulate the third component of such exchanges (Feedback turn).”

“Drawing on episodes of teacher and whole-class interaction, Nassaji and Wells (2000) showed that the same basic IRF structure can take a variety of forms and be employed by teachers for a wide range of functions, depending on the goal of the activity that the discourse serves to mediate and, in…”

“The applied coding scheme is based on an adaptation of selected categories from a more substantive coding scheme developed by Wells and Arauz (2006) and Nassaji & Wells, 2000).”

“Researchers have also organized dialogue into a complex hierarchy of speech units, including episodes, sequences, exchanges, and moves (Halliday & Hasan, 1985 ; Nassaji & Wells, 2000 ; Wells, 1993 ).”

“Previous research on pedagogic discourse has been mainly concerned with the use of language as a single semiotic mode, looking into the functions of teacher questions or feedback (e.g. Boyd 2015; Nassaji and Wells 2000).”

“…this pattern is likely to produce assumptive questions – where the teacher assumes they know what the correct answer should be – thus preparing the ground for the fostering of the IRE structure, which would favor the development of convergent rather than divergent thinking (Nassaji and Wells 2000).”

“…makes (consciously or unconsciously) about how to conduct classroom discourse around texts have potential consequences for students’ participation (Nassaji & Wells, 2000), the degree to which they engage in thinking about texts (Nystrand, 1997), their understandings about what it means to be a…”

“(Nassaji & Wells, 2000, p. 377) Nassaji and Wells (2000) argued that as the primary knower in the classroom, this triadic dialogue has a built-in mechanism that enables the teacher to fulfil the valuable functions of confirming students’ knowledge to be correct or otherwise, evaluating the quality…”

“3 This is also called a “triadic dialogue” ( Lemke, 1990 ; Nassaji & Wells, 2000 ).”

“This turn reflects the fact that often in educational interaction the teacher is predominantly the primary knower of the contents (Nassaji and Wells 2000), although this is different in the case of genuine questions about the child’s experiences, thoughts or plans.”