DIALOGICAL METHOD
Dialogic
learning is learning that
takes place through dialogue. It is typically the result of egalitarian dialogue; in other words, the
consequence of a dialogue in which different people provide arguments based
on validity claims
and not on power claims.[1]
The concept
of dialogic learning is not a new one. Within the Western tradition, it is
frequently linked to the Socratic dialogues. It is also found in many
other traditions; for example, the book The Argumentative Indian, written by
Nobel Prize of Economics winner Amartya Sen (2005),
situates dialogic learning within the Indian tradition and observes that an
emphasis on discussion and dialogue spread across Asia with the rise of Buddhism.[2]In
recent times, the concept of dialogic learning has been linked to contributions
from various perspectives and disciplines, such as the theory of dialogic
action (Freire, 1970), the dialogic inquiry approach
(Wells, 1999), the theory of communicative action (Habermas, 1984), the notion of dialogic
imagination (Bahktin,
1981) and the dialogical self (Soler, 2004). In
addition, the work of an important range of contemporary authors is based on
dialogic conceptions. Among those, it is worth mentioning authors like Jack
Mezirow (1990, 1991, 2000) and his transformative learning theory;
Michael Fielding (2001), who sees students as radical agents of change; Timothy
Koschmann (1999), who highlights the potential advantages of adopting
dialogicality as the basis of education; and Anne C. Hargrave (2000), who
demonstrates that children in dialogic-learning conditions make significantly
larger gains in vocabulary, than do children in a less dialogic reading
environment.Specifically, the concept of dialogic learning (Flecha,
2000) evolved from the investigation and observation of
how people learn both outside and inside of schools, when acting and learning
freely is allowed. At this point, it is important to mention the "Learning
Communities", an educational project which seeks social and cultural
transformation of educational centers and their surroundings through dialogic
learning, emphasizing egalitarian dialogue among all community members,
including teaching staff, students, families, entities, and volunteers. In the
learning communities, it is fundamental the involvement of all members of the
community because, as research shows, learning processes, regardless of the
learners' ages, and including the teaching staff, depend more on the
coordination among all the interactions and activities that take place in
different spaces of the learners' lives, like school, home, and workplace, than
only on interactions and activities developed in spaces of formal learning,
such as classrooms. Along these lines, the "Learning Communities"
project aims at multiplying learning contexts and interactions with the
objective of all students reaching higher levels of development (Vygotsky,
1978).
Freire: the theory of dialogic action
Paulo Freire (1970) states that human
nature is dialogic, and believes that communication has
a leading role in our life. We are continuously in dialogue with others, and it
is in that process that we create and recreate ourselves. According to Freire,
dialogue is a claim in favor of the democratic choice of educators. Educators,
in order to promote free and critical learning should create the conditions for
dialogue that encourages the epistemological curiosity
of the learner. The goal of the dialogic action is always to reveal the truth
interacting with others and the world. In his dialogic action theory, Freire distinguishes
between dialogical actions, the ones that promote understanding, cultural
creation, and liberation; and non-dialogic actions, which deny dialogue,
distort communication, and reproduce power.
