How teachers might open dialogic spaces in writing instruction

In this article, writing lessons are examined to identify the range of ways that teachers might open dialogic space for writers. We use vignettes of teaching interactions to develop a taxonomy of the approaches that potentially make a range of voices apparent for students' consideration. Using examples from writing lessons we illustrate how these spaces are variously opened. But we also identify common barriers to including the different sources of dialogue. We identify few sites that allow inter-animation of different types of voice. We propose a practical framing for considering the ways that writing instruction might offer potential for inter-animation between texts, authors of texts and readers of texts.