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Thinking and talking like a geographer: Teachers' use of dialogic talk for engaging students with multimodal data in the geography classroom
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Type
Book Chapter
Citation
Seow, T., Ho, C., & Lin, Y. (2022). Thinking and talking like a geographer: Teachers' use of dialogic talk for engaging students with multimodal data in the geography classroom. In L. H. Seah, R. E. Silver, & M. C. Baildon (Eds.), The role of language in content pedagogy: A framework for teachers' knowledge (pp. 213-229). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5351-4_11
Abstract
Geographical inquiry is an approach to learning that acknowledges the constructivist view of knowledge and prioritises the need for students to make sense of what they are learning for themselves. Alexander (2003; 2008) advanced dialogic teaching as a strategy for eliciting students’ understanding and engaging students in using language as a tool for constructing knowledge. This suggests that the successful use of geographical inquiry as a pedagogy entails learning how to think and talk like a geographer. Geography teachers in Singapore are encouraged to use inquiry-based pedagogies in order to help students understand the nature of disciplinary work in geography and as the main route to knowledge construction (CPDD, 2013; 2014). This chapter draws on a study that examines geography teachers’ language knowledge for content teaching (Morton, 2018) through the use of dialogic talk to guide multimodal data analysis, interpretation, and knowledge construction in geography. Using examples of teachers’ enactment of knowledge in the classroom, we suggest how geography teachers can help students make sense of geographical data through greater attention to language use. We further argue that exploring the qualitative dimension of using dialogic talk as a pedagogic strategy addresses a gap in geography education and contributes to the growing body of work on disciplinary literacy.
Date Issued
2022
ISBN
9789811953507 (print)
9789811953514 (online)
Publisher
Springer
Project
AFD 04/17 TS
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore