Influential to my thinking has been the work of Kerslake (2019) whose Playground of Ideas inspired the design of my own framework. Kerslake’s Playground of Ideas was a pedagogical approach designed in response to difficulties faced by the researcher during collaborative classroom discussions. I was inspired by Kerslake’s Playground of Ideas and the metaphorical connection between the talk move and a piece of playground equipment. This motivated me to design a similar framework which would resonate with young people.
The Dialogic Highway became the title for my project after researching gaming vocabulary. In the gaming world, a Dialogue Tree is a gameplay mechanic. It is the most advanced form of conversational interactivity; described as a network of conversation options that a player has with a non-playable character.
The metaphor of the highway, with its on and off ramps, signifies the many directions a discussion can take depending on student motivations and the dialogic moves used in the discussion.
Accompanying my framework are dialogic talk moves which are prompt cards for teachers and students to use during the discussion sessions; these provide the conversation options students learn, enabling them to participate and contribute effectively in a discussion. I continued my research into gaming vocabulary to find words which would match metaphorically with my dialogic action discourse. My thinking was this might be a motivating factor for students.
Kerslake, L. (2021). The Playground of Ideas: A design-based research investigation into dialogic thinking with six-and seven-year-old children in England (Doctoral dissertation).
The dialogic highway 
I would truly love any feedback or thoughts!