Dialogic Pedagogy

Abstract

Dialogic pedagogy is broadly concerned with dialogues in, around, and about teaching and learning. It differs radically from dialectic pedagogy in that the emphasis lies in the dialogue spaces in between learners (and teachers) rather than in hierarchical arrangements imposed by well-meaning authorities. Dialogic pedagogy takes its roots from a philosophical legacy originating in Socratic dialogues (and some would say even earlier in Menippeaic dialogues of ancient Greece). Various aspects of dialogic thought can be traced in the writings of Arendt, Bibler, Buber, Derrida, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Lévinas, Rorty, Spinoza, and Wittgenstein—to name a few. While dialogic pedagogy has a long history in philosophical thought and practice, and latterly in linguistics, it has only recently been granted legitimacy in formal education across the globe through the works of Dewey, Freire, Ranciere, Yakubinsky, and Bakhtin who have each, in their own ways, sought to bring dialogic philosophy to bear on pedagogical thought and practice. This annotated bibliography focuses primarily on writings that are mainly concerned with the interanimated ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin and members of his Russian network (in particular Malovich, Medvedev, and Voloshinov). Contemporary manifestations of dialogic pedagogy based on these origins are widely viewed as an antidote to authoritative regimes of control and accountability that now orient practice in many parts of the world. By its very premise dialogic pedagogy does not prescribe specific pedagogical approaches but, instead, provides a series of principles to orient practice that is attentive to the shaping nature of dialogues, the interanimating voices at play, and the implications of these for learning. Emphasis is placed on the event of dialogue as the form-shaping, orienting basis of pedagogy. It is not merely an exchange from one speaker to another, or a form of transmission of ideas, but rather a moral imperative to engage in joint meaning making on dialogic terms. In dialogic pedagogy, therefore, dialogue is learning and thus becomes a focus for investigation and practice.