Knowledge-building patterns in educational dialogue

- Educational dialogues in Grade 6 emerged from facts, views and experiences.
- Sharing these three types of knowledge formed six knowledge-building patterns.
- Factual knowledge seemed to dominate in Grade 6 educational dialogues.
- Knowledge was built through balanced exchanges between the teacher and students.

This study aimed to examine knowledge-building patterns in Grade 6 educational dialogues. The data consisted of 20 video-recorded lessons from the classes taught by seven teachers, selected by using a latent profile analysis and examined with a qualitative functional analysis of classroom talk. Episodes of educational dialogue were found to represent three main types of knowledge, based on facts, views and experiences. These three types were further identified as forming six diverse knowledge-building patterns in educational dialogues. The findings indicated that factual orientation dominated the Grade 6 lesson dialogues. However, factual knowledge building often occurred with the other two main types of knowledge.