Dialogic space in Norwegian early-years literacy education

Abstract

This study explores and analyses conditions for student participation in Norwegian Year Two classrooms. It is inspired by the concept of dialogic space (Wegerif, 2013) and by Segal and Lefstein's (2016) model for the realization of student voice. Six classrooms were observed for one week. This yielded field notes and summaries from 105 lessons across all subjects and video data from all 47 Norwegian (L1) lessons. Our analyses show that there is practically no pair or group work and that station work is predominantly silent, leaving whole-class teaching as the most prominent space for dialogue. Our analyses aim to identify events in whole-class teaching with dialogic potential, i.e., where the interaction displays features that might indicate a shift from recitation to conversation (Nystrand & Gamoran, 1991). In these conversational events, we find increased teacher dominance when dealing with disciplinary content. When students are given the floor, the focus tends to be on non-disciplinary content. Students' talk about texts and disciplinary ideas is suggested as a productive ground for creating dialogic space in early-years literacy education.