Recognizing that empirical research into classroom dialogue has been conducted for about 40 years, a review is reported of 225 studies published between 1972 and 2011. The studies were identified through systematic search of electronic databases and scrutiny of publication reference lists. They focus on classroom dialogue in primary and secondary classrooms, covering the full age range of compulsory schooling. The methods of data collection and analysis used in the studies are described and discussed, with changes and continuities over time highlighted. Study results are then summarized and integrated to present a succinct picture of what is currently known and where future research might profitably be directed. One key message is that much more is known about how classroom dialogue is organized than about whether certain modes of organization are more beneficial than others. Moreover, epistemological and methodological change may be required if the situation is to be remedied.

Classroom dialogue: a systematic review across four decades of research

In this quantitative study, we compare the efficacy of Level 2, guided inquiry–based instruction to more traditional, verification laboratory instruction in supporting student performance on a standardized measure of knowledge of content, procedure, and nature of science. Our sample included 1,700 students placed in the classrooms of 12 middle school and 12 high school science teachers. The instruction for both groups included a week long, laboratory-based, forensics unit. Students were given pre-, post-, and delayed posttests, the results of which were analyzed through a Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) using students' scores, teacher, level of school, Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) scores, and school socioeconomic status. Overall, compared to students in traditional sections, students who participated in an inquiry-based laboratory unit showed significantly higher posttest scores; had the higher scores, more growth, and long-term retention at both the high school and middle school levels, if their teacher had stronger implementation of inquiry methods (as measured by RTOP scores); and tended to have better outcomes than those who learned through traditional methods, regardless of level of poverty in the school. Our findings suggest that Level 2 inquiry can be an effective teaching approach to support student learning as measured through standardized assessments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed94:577–616, 2010

Is inquiry possible in light of accountability?: A quantitative comparison of the relative effectiveness of guided inquiry and verification laboratory instruction

Contents: J.C. Alderson, Foreword. L. Cheng, Y. Watanabe, A. Curtis, Preface. Part I: Concepts and Methodology of Washback. L. Cheng, A. Curtis, Washback or Backwash: A Review of the Impact of Testing on Teaching and Learning. Y. Watanabe, Methodology in Washback Studies. S. Andrews, Washback and Curriculum Innovation. Part II: Washback Studies From Different Parts of the World. B. Stecher, T. Chun, S. Barron, The Effects of Assessment-Driven Reform on the Teaching of Writing in Washington State. N. Saville, R. Hawkey, The IELTS Impact Study: Investigating Washback on Teaching Materials. B. Hayes, J. Read, IELTS Test Preparation in New Zealand: Preparing Students for the IELTS Academic Module. C. Burrows, Washback in Classroom-Based Assessment: A Study of the Washback Effect in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program. Y. Watanabe, Teacher Factors Mediating Washback. L. Cheng, The Washback Effect of a Public Examination Change on Teachers' Perceptions Toward Their Classroom Teaching. L. Qi, Has a High-Stakes Test Produced the Intended Changes? I. Ferman, The Washback of an EFL National Oral Matriculation Test to Teaching and Learning.

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Washback in Language Testing Research Contexts and Methods

Though rooted in neo-Piagetian research , constructivism is an 
avenue of research that departed from the neo-Piagetian mainstream 20 
years ago and has continued on a distinct path of development. The departure 
was evident by the late seventies, clearly outlined in two publications by 
Novak (1977) and Driver and Easley (1978). For constructivists, learning is 
not knowledge written on or transplanted to a person's mind as if the mind 
were a blank slate waiting to be written on or an empty gallery waiting to be 
filled. Constructivists use the metaphor of construction because it aptly 
summarizes the epistemological view that knowledge is built by individuals. 
Since Ausubel eta!. (1978), theorists have argued that the construction of 
new knowledge in science is strongly influenced by prior knowledge, that is, 
conceptions gained prior to the point of new learning. Learning by construction thus implies a change in prior knowledge, where change can mean 
replacement, addition, or modification of extant knowledge. Learning, by 
construction, involving change is the basis of the Posner et a!. (1982) 
conceptual change modeL In essence, constructivism is an epistemological 
model of learning, and constructivist teaching is mediation. A constructivist 
teacher works as the interface between curriculum and student to bring the 
two together in a way that is meaningful for the learner. Furthermore, if one 
carries the construction metaphor to its logical conclusion, construction 
implies a foundation, in addition to the studs and beams of prior knowledge. 
The construction of new knowledge takes place at a construction site 
consisting of existing structures standing on a foundation . In other words, 
construction takes place in a context. The purpose of this chapter is, first, to 
trace the developments in constructivist theory that lead to contextual 
constructivism, including the types of questions suggested by contextual 
constructivism. Second, it places those questions in the context of an 
anthropological world view theory .

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Contextual Constructivism: The Impact of Culture on the Learning and Teaching of Science.

People are purposive, intentional beings. People are creatures of habit and yet full of surprises. People can be quite unpredictable. For these reasons and many others, it is difficult to come to know people in the sense of having a causal understanding of human behavior, which was the modernist project in education. At least this cannot be done as scientists do with moving objects such as particle or projectile motion, for example, or even with the behavior of non-human animal species. What a person can do that an object cannot is to tell you about him or herself, thus helping you to get to know this person. This is of course a different kind of knowing and it suggests that getting to know a broad range of people provides an educator with exemplars of what people in general are like. “Interpretive researchers,” noted Cobern (1993a, p. 936), “do not expect that the procedures of experimental natural science can ever be used to produce general laws of education. Rather, one must come to a greater understanding of what meaning is and how it is created. Similarly, the classroom environment is not to be composed of causal variables which the teacher manipulates to foster learning, but an environment mutually shaped to fit the members of the classroom, both teacher and students.” My research takes it thus as axiomatic that the more educators know about students as people the better educators will be able to teach people as students in their classrooms. Among others, Fenstermacher (1979), Hawkins and Pea (1987), Lythcott (1991), and Shymansky and Kyle (1992) have espoused similar views.

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Worldview Theory and Science Education Research

In a study of the relationship between high-stakes testing and the teaching of science, we conducted pilot case studies of two school districts, and then interviewed and observed a larger number of teachers in Grades 8, 10, and 12 drawn from 10 districts in British Columbia. We also interviewed principals, students, and district personnel. The data showed a decrease in the variety of instructional approaches from Grade 8 to Grade 12. Teachers' comments suggested that high-stakes examinations at Grade 12 were a major factor in the instructional differences we observed. We concluded not only that the examinations discouraged teachers from using strategies which promoted enquiry and active student learning, but also that this impoverishment affected the language of class

George Ivany

Papers

High-Stakes Testing and the Teaching of Science

World view projected by science teachers: A study of classroom dialogue