Exploratory talk in times of globalisation and digitalisation: a narrative review

Abstract

Over the last decades researchers and educators have promoted the use of language in collaborative activities in the classroom. Accordingly, there is considerable support for the sociocultural idea that knowledge is the result of a co-constructed activity of students, and that exploratory talk can support them to develop higher-order thinking, high-level understanding, the voicing of personal opinions and ideas, and argumentation skills. Positive learning effects of exploratory talk have inspired researchers all over the world to replicate, refine or elaborate on these early studies, using both quantitative and qualitative methods and often finding similar positive linguistic, cognitive, social, psychological, and pedagogical effects. In this study we present a narrative review into the definition, measurement, and effects of exploratory talk. The review is both a part and an extension of a PhD study on the use of exploratory talk in primary schools in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Based on this review we will highlight the relevancy of exploratory talk and associated challenges for L1 education in a globalising, diversifying and digitalising context. We will argue that exploratory talk can meet these challenges, but its potential can only be realized fully by a shift towards dialogic teaching as opposed to the IRF/IRE-pattern which still seems to dominate classroom practice.