Realising ‘dialogic intentions’ when working with a microblogging tool in secondary school classrooms

In this paper we argue that joint teacher and student awareness of dialogic intentions (DIs) in lessons can focus and guide students' spoken dialogic interactions in the context of the use of digital technology. We focus on DI as a factor in promoting metacognitive awareness of pro- ductive dialogue amongst students, considering how teachers in ‘dialogic classrooms’ express DIs and how the use of a microblogging tool (Talkwall) can support, enhance or disrupt students' realisation of these intentions. Data consist of 17 lessons with Year 7 students (aged 11–12), taught by six teachers and covering three subject areas: English, science and geography. A sys- tematic model is used for analysis of technology-focused student interactions, revealing how technology affordances and constraints are implicated in the realisation of DI. This paper is significant in examining how the ability to engage in dialogue can be focused through learning intentions, or set of intentions, within lessons. Further, it considers how specific technological affordances are central to the ways in which technology is implicated in the creation of a rela- tional space for intra-action that might support teaching and learning.

The teacher has three core means of determining the nature of the interactions in semi-autonomous group work in classrooms: defining the task; controlling the parameters of the task; and stating the DIs underlying the task. We have acknowledged the reciprocal nature of task definition and interpretation, and it is clear that the parameters of any task are only ‘controlled’ to the extent that students understand and act upon teacher scaffolds controlling actions. In acknowledging the complex interplay of influences on learning possibilities, the positioning of technology in the ‘mix’ seems crucial; but the overarching context, of classes working both to institute the use of Talkwall and embed a dialogic ethos, is also critical. What we see in the ways in which teachers state and re-state DIs through their lessons suggests that they are providing contingent support predicated on the perceived dialogic skills and knowledge base of the students. This is quite broad brush, based upon narrowing the dialogic focus of jointly agreed ground rules for talk to define more clearly those particular features of dialogue pertinent to the task. Such contingency has been shown to be an important factor in student uptake and learning (Corno, 2008; Davis & Miyake, 2004; van de Pol et al., 2018; Wittwer & Renkl, 2008); and whilst tailoring support on the basis of students' pre-existing knowledge and skills is very far from the only influence on student learning in semi-autonomous groups (see the Introduction and Section 4.2), it is a feature of skilled teaching (Warwick et al., 2020).