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Cited by 5Teacher Education and Leadership StudiesInnovative Teaching and Learning MethodsEvaluation of Teaching Practices

Teacher Learning in Scaffolding Children’s Collaborative Dialogue in a Chinese Elementary School

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Sun (孙晶晶), Jingjing, Zhang (张洁), Jie, Li (李虹), Hong·2025·ECNU Review of Education
DOI 10.1177/2096531120951009
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Abstract

Purpose: Dialogic pedagogies that provide students with frequent opportunities to talk have been shown to help students develop essential 21st-century skills. Many Chinese teachers, however, lack confidence and experiences in shifting from teacher-centered pedagogical practices to such student-centered practices. This study examined Chinese elementary school teachers’ reflections on learning to facilitate small-group collaborative reasoning (CR) discussions in their classrooms. Design/Approach/Methods: Two fourth-grade teachers in a public school in Beijing, China, participated in the study, where they participated in seven semi-structured debriefing interviews and wrote 13 reflective journals. Thematic analysis of the debriefing interviews and journals was carried out to understand the teachers’ learning progress. Findings: The results showed that although the teachers encountered major challenges, such as a drastic shift in their roles, the intense cognitive demands of scaffolding, and the emotional stress of handling the uncertainties of CR discussions, they also made noteworthy progress while learning to facilitate CR discussions. The teachers’ achievement goal orientations seem to have played a major role in how they responded to the challenges and whether they made progress. Originality/Value: This study reveals insights into the challenges and progress that the teachers experienced when learning to use a discussion-based teaching approach. It sheds light on the motivational mechanism of teacher learning and provides guidance on how to support Chinese teachers through the use of small-group collaborative discussions.

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  • Dialogic approaches benefitted teachers' beliefs and their practices in reading instructions.

    “dialogic approaches benefitted teachers' beliefs and their practices in reading instructions (e.g., Cheng et al. 2015;Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020;Wei, Murphy, and Wu 2020).”

    From The Impact of a Dialogic Intervention on a Chinese Rural Teacher and Students' Stances Towards Texts (2025) · cites this paper as Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020

    The Abstract reports that two fourth-grade teachers made progress in facilitating collaborative reasoning discussions, and the Results describe adaptive instructional practices. The Results also say teachers’ existing views of reading instruction influenced their adaptation; they do not establish that the dialogic approach benefited both teachers’ beliefs. One teacher’s narrow view of reading instruction slowed her progress. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Peer-led, open-format discussion approaches were successful in raising Chinese students' reading comprehension skills.

    “peer-led, open-format discussion approaches were successful in raising Chinese students' reading comprehension skills”

    From The Impact of a Dialogic Intervention on a Chinese Rural Teacher and Students' Stances Towards Texts (2025) · cites this paper as Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020

    The Results (page unavailable) describe collaborative reasoning as a way to promote high-level comprehension and report that teachers made progress facilitating discussions. But this study examined teachers’ learning; our copy does not establish that the discussions raised students’ reading-comprehension skills. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Chinese teachers can have a narrow view of reading instruction and believe texts should be interpreted according to the text's advanced, authoritative, institutionally approved ideas, thus limiting possibilities for dialogue.

    “Chinese teachers can have a narrow view of reading instruction and believe texts should be interpreted according to the text's advanced, authoritative, institutionally approved ideas, thus limiting the possibilities for dialogue (Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020).”

    From The Impact of a Dialogic Intervention on a Chinese Rural Teacher and Students' Stances Towards Texts (2025) · cites this paper as Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020

    The Results (page unavailable) describe one teacher’s narrow view of reading instruction, focused on basic literacy skills. The introductory discussion (labeled Abstract in our copy; page unavailable) says teachers often evaluate responses against predetermined answers, leaving few opportunities for extended discussion. Neither passage says teachers believe texts must be interpreted according to advanced, institutionally approved ideas. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Under the IRE/IRF talk format, the teacher takes primary responsibility for initiating questions and evaluating students' responses against known-answer questions in regular reading lessons.

    “Under the IRE/IRF talk format, the teacher take primary responsibility for initiating questions and evaluating students' responses against known-answer questions in regular reading lessons (Cheng et al. 2015;Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020).”

    From The Impact of a Dialogic Intervention on a Chinese Rural Teacher and Students' Stances Towards Texts (2025) · cites this paper as Sun, Zhang, and Li 2020

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Cited by

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Authors
Sun (孙晶晶), J., Zhang (张洁), J., & Li (李虹), H.
Affiliations
  • University of Montana
  • University of Houston
  • Beijing Normal University
Venue
ECNU Review of Education
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2020-08-21
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
482-507
ISSN
  • 2096-5311 (ISSN-L)
  • 2632-1742
DOI
10.1177/2096531120951009
OpenAlex
W3080132722
Cited by
5
References
5
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 4
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • ECNU Review of Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
  • Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
Keywords
teacher learning, scaffolding, collaborative reasoning, dialogic teaching, small group discussion, teacher role transformation, achievement goal orientation, teacher motivation, student-centered instruction, reflective practice

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