Executive Summary
Project Backstory
This Action Research Change in Practice Project emerged from two separate situations: firstly, the drop in confidence and efficacy I witnessed in my own daughter, having been placed in the ‘cabbage class’. Secondly, a challenge posed by my then Principal in response to the 2012 Ministry report Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching – a New Zealand perspective (Bolstad et al. 2012).
Inspired to innovate and make things better, I took a close look at my own pedagogy and began a process of change to prioritise my students and place them at the centre of all learning and teaching. One of the contexts for this was reading and reading comprehension. Departing from traditional ability-based reading groups, I introduced a whole-class shared reading approach, fostering meaning-making through collaborative discussion that valued students’ diverse experiences and perspectives and gave mana to oral expression. Despite improving engagement and motivation, true dialogic interactions—characterised by cumulative back-and-forth discussions—remained elusive.
Fast-forward ten years.
Research indicates that students require explicit instruction and guided practice in dialogic skills to engage in the level of discussion I envisioned.
Awareness, Alternative and Action
The purpose of my Action Research Project became clear: replace traditional reading practices with an alternative that recognises the potential in all students.
The project goals included raising awareness of dialogic approaches as a High Expectation Teaching (HET) Aotearoa-specific pedagogy (Tokona Te Raki, 2024), which is inclusive and equitable. By removing ability grouping and providing high-level learning activities for all students, creating warm and safe spaces, using collaboration to support learning goals and giving mana to oral language, this alternative will address classroom diversity, disengagement and underachievement in reading.
This research project advocates a dialogic approach to reading comprehension, presenting an alternative pedagogy that prioritises student-driven, collaborative discussions. These discussions take place in safe spaces where co-constructed ‘game rules’ have been decided by students with teachers and where critical thought is encouraged through scaffolded prompts. By centring student sensemaking and rejecting the notion of right or wrong answers, this approach challenges traditional reading comprehension approaches (Berryman et al. 2018). Teachers need to shift their mindset to fully embrace this pedagogy.
Inspired by Kerslake’s Playground of Ideas (2021), I designed the Dialogic Highway to resonate with young learners. The framework, influenced by gaming terminology, is a metaphorical highway, with Dialogic Talk Moves (structured prompts for both teachers and students) that foster meaningful participation. The Talk Moves act as on and off-ramps symbolising the many directions a discussion can take.
Employing an action research methodology, the project emphasised experiential, iterative and collaborative learning (Alejandro & David, 2018). Six teachers each had a diverse group of six to eleven students who tested the Dialogic Highway Framework through three iterative cycles – instructional, goal-driven and student-led – over a period of two school terms. Artefacts such as the Dialogic Culture Overview, Principles for Implementation Frame, comprehensive lesson plans and accompanying resources supported implementation. Teachers reflected on their practice during fortnightly kanohi-ki-te-kanohi hui, in an online Community of Practice and through #Loothui (a storytelling approach to sharing successes).
Qualitative data was collected to evaluate the framework’s impact. Pre-project surveys gauged teachers’ initial stance towards dialogic teaching. Qualitative insights illuminated teachers’ evolving beliefs, practices and any barriers. Analysis of transcribed group discussions measured the frequency and variety of dialogic moves used by students throughout the project.
Key Findings
The project aimed to implement an alternative approach to reading comprehension by fostering safe spaces for discussion, redefining teacher and student roles and utilising scaffolding tools effectively. Key findings include:
- Safe discussion spaces
Co-constructed ‘game rules’, though inconsistently prioritised by some teachers, built trust among students, enhancing their confidence and collaboration. Students valued dedicated physical spaces for discussions; it showed the teacher valued the pedagogy enough to provide a dedicated space for it and this act also created a sense of ownership of what took place in the space.
- Changing roles
Some teachers faced challenges in stepping back to enable student-driven discussions. Two main reasons were highlighted: the vulnerability faced when not in control and a tension between process-focused learning and outcome-based assessment. Students embraced their active roles, coming to recognise the value of diverse perspectives, learning how to respectfully disagree and gaining a deeper understanding of the texts explored.
- Scaffolding tools
The Dialogic Talk Move Cards acted as prompts and supported both teachers and students, facilitating richer and more critical discussions. The scaffolding tools were also effectively used by students when teaching other students how to use them for dialogic discussions.
Insights Gained
This research highlighted dialogic discussions as a culturally responsive alternative to improve student engagement in reading comprehension and foster critical literacy. Students embraced multiple perspectives, recognising cultural diversity as a strength, which acted as a catalyst for meaningful discussions. Co-constructing ‘game rules’ for safe discussion spaces was pivotal, though future dissemination should place more emphasis on this phase of implementation to ensure all students feel confident to share deeply.
Teachers will need to think innovatively to address the tension between process over product if they see genuine value in dialogic practices. One way is to modify the Loot section of the Dialogic Discussion Framework into a self-assessment component. Students could capture just-in-time evidence of valuable learning through self-assessment using the Loot questions and voice memo (or other online voice/video recording tool), uploading these in a digital format to their learning portfolios.
It became clear by the end of the project that the dialogic skills learnt in the context of reading comprehension are transversal. Teachers and students provided evidence of this through sharing explicit examples of students using dialogic vocabulary in a variety of other contexts, such as during play, to solve social problems and in general classroom discussion.
Gamification of Dialogic Talk Moves will require more emphasis in future dissemination to ensure clearer links between the dialogic talk move name and the discourse action. Doing this will result in superior teaching and learning of the gamification aspect, which acts as metaphors for types of discussion.
Future implementations should address the complexities of online dialogic discussions and focus on integrating dialogic practices within broader school systems to sustain and scale up this transformative approach.
REFERENCES
Alejandro, P., & David, I. (2018). Educational Research and Innovation Teachers as Designers of Learning Environments The Importance of Innovative Pedagogies: The Importance of Innovative Pedagogies. OECD Publishing.
Berryman, M., Lawrence, D., & Lamont, R. (2018). Cultural relationships for responsive pedagogy: A bicultural mana ōrite perspective. Set: Research Information for Teachers, (1), 3–10. doi:10.18296/set.0096
Bolstad, R. (2017). Digital Technologies for Learning: Findings from the NZCER National Survey of Primary and Intermediate Schools 2016. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. PO Box 3237, Wellington 6140 New Zealand.
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).
Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2017). The leadership challenge (6th ed.). Jossey-Bass
Tokona te Raki. (2024). Kōkirihia Annual Report 2024.
The dialogic highway 
I would truly love any feedback or thoughts!