TY - JOUR
T1 - Dialogic teaching to the high-stakes standardised test?
AU - Segal, Aliza
AU - Snell, Julia
AU - Lefstein, Adam
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/10/20
Y1 - 2017/10/20
N2 - Within current educational discourse, dialogic pedagogy is diametrically opposed to teaching to the test, especially the high-stakes standardised test. While dialogic pedagogy is about critical thinking, authenticity and freedom, test preparation evokes all that is narrow, instrumental and cynical in education. In this paper, we argue that such positioning of dialogic pedagogy as antithetical to testing is detrimental to attempts both to foster dialogue in classrooms and to constructively manage the high-stakes standardised tests that are compulsory in so many schools. Drawing on an extended case study of dialogic teaching in one London primary school, we argue that while standardised testing is indeed an impediment to dialogic pedagogy, it does not follow that dialogue is impossible or undesirable within the testing context. By adopting an ironic stance towards the test, teachers can fulfil test preparation mandates while maintaining dialogic ideals and practices.
AB - Within current educational discourse, dialogic pedagogy is diametrically opposed to teaching to the test, especially the high-stakes standardised test. While dialogic pedagogy is about critical thinking, authenticity and freedom, test preparation evokes all that is narrow, instrumental and cynical in education. In this paper, we argue that such positioning of dialogic pedagogy as antithetical to testing is detrimental to attempts both to foster dialogue in classrooms and to constructively manage the high-stakes standardised tests that are compulsory in so many schools. Drawing on an extended case study of dialogic teaching in one London primary school, we argue that while standardised testing is indeed an impediment to dialogic pedagogy, it does not follow that dialogue is impossible or undesirable within the testing context. By adopting an ironic stance towards the test, teachers can fulfil test preparation mandates while maintaining dialogic ideals and practices.
KW - Dialogic pedagogy
KW - classroom discourse
KW - linguistic ethnography
KW - standardised testing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029056536&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02671522.2016.1225803
DO - 10.1080/02671522.2016.1225803
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85029056536
SN - 0267-1522
VL - 32
SP - 596
EP - 610
JO - Research Papers in Education
JF - Research Papers in Education
IS - 5
ER -