Supporting students’ content learning in Biology through teachers’ use of classroom talk drawing on concept sketches

Abstract

This article examines teachers’ attempts to enhance students’ content learning in Biology through the use of talk centred on concept sketches. Of specific interest is how teachers provide scaffolding through purposeful classroom discourse (Lemke, 1990) with the use of talk moves (Chapin, O’Connor, & Anderson, 2013), drawing on concept sketches (Johnson & Reynolds, 2005) annotated by students. Informed by socioconstructivist (Vygotsky, 1978/86) perspectives and grounded in multimodal literacy (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001) underpinnings, the study acknowledges the teacher’s role in productive classroom discussions to guide students’ thinking and facilitate meaning-making. Qualitative analysis of classroom discourse illustrates how teachers’ classroom talk can scaffold and address the gaps in students’ learning. Pedagogical implications are discussed.