Supporting student engagement and learning through the dialogic-inquiry activity of written conversations in an elementary classroom: an ethnographic case study
Date
2020
Authors
LaFond, Kitty, author
Jennings, Louise, advisor
Aragon, Antonette, committee member
Stevenson, Cerissa, committee member
Reid, Louann, committee member
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Abstract
This study describes a fourth-grade elementary, general-education classroom located in a city in Colorado. The participating teacher was also the researcher in this study. She spent 10 weeks in field observation and data collection. The study was informed by two pilot studies, was based in the theoretical framework of constructivism, and an ethnographic methodology was utilized to describe the classroom environment. Analyses of the data were completed using the five parts of an ethnographic case study: (a) data managing, (b) coding and developing themes, (c) describing, (d) interpreting, and (d) representing. The research question for this study focused on examining how the dialogical inquiry activity of written conversations supports or constrains student engagement and the learning process. The findings from the study present evidence that the dialogical inquiry activity of written conversations played a supportive role in the interconnection between relationship building and the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive (EBC) constructs of student engagement and the learning process. The study found that relationships were the integrated factor that tie the three EBC engagement constructs together. Findings illustrate how written conversations support building a classroom community, helping the teacher see students through a relational lens, and building student-to-student relationships and teacher-to-student relationships. Written conversations were also an effective pedagogical tool in supporting the learning process. iii Findings illustrate how written conversations provided opportunities for engaging in a wide array of literacy practices through authentic writing activity. Multiple examples of students' written conversations demonstrate how student literacy practices grew more proficient through the written conversations over time. The findings also illustrate how teacher-researcher-devised assessment tools made visible a broad range of literacy skills that students developed and demonstrated through the practice of written conversations, addressing many learning standards that are less prevalent in other areas of the curriculum. Although there is much evidence in this study of how written conversations support relationships, student engagement, and the learning process, one constraint should be noted. Written conversations are a tool that facilitates dialogue; but if the teacher attends to only what the writing looks like and not what the student voice is saying, the result could be a decrease in student engagement. Additional constraints to the effective implementation of written conversations that relate to culturally responsive teaching practices are addressed. In summary, written conversations supported student engagement and the learning process because written conversations played a key role in building relationships within a community of learners. Written conversations supported relationship building, relationship building supported student engagement, and student engagement supported the learning process.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
cognitive engagement
emotional engagement
written conversations
dialogical inquiry
behavioral engagement
relationship engagement