Judging the Quality of Peer-Led Student Dialogues

TLDR

This study examines the rational quality of students’ discussions of literary texts. The study presents an ideal dialogue‑context model and compares it with 12 fourth‑grader peer discussions of literature at two points during a year. Six groups of three fourth‑graders were videotaped discussing a novel read aloud and with their teacher, and their collaborative reasoning was analyzed with a graphical coding system and literary content analysis. The analyses matched with dialogue contexts identified key features that foster productive dialogue in children’s literary discussions.

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the rational quality of students' discussion of literary texts. An ideal model of dialogue contexts is presented and compared with 12 fourth-grader peer discussions of literature at 2 different periods during the course of 1 academic year. Six groups consisting of 3 students each were videotaped while they discussed a novel previously read aloud and discussed with their teacher in class. The collaborative reasoning capabilities of these students were analyzed using a graphical coding system coupled with an analysis of the literary content of the students' argumentation. The 2 analyses were matched with the dialogue contexts and used to identify some important features that foster productive dialogue in children's discussions of literature.