Exploratory Talk

Learning is something which everyone has an understanding of and which everyone has participated in, however, that learning was delivered in a variety of different teaching approaches as research and guidance has changed several times over the years from didactic, rote teaching to emancipated pedagogy (O’Connor, 2012). ‘A teaching approach consists of the methods and strategies that teachers employ to help pupils learn effectively…and are based on an understanding of child development and learning theories’, as proclaimed by Hayes (2010).

However, gone are the theories of time sitting at a desk all day, memorizing information and listening to teachers’ monotonous lessons. Nowadays, teachers are putting aside the pencil and paper in exchange

Science educator, Douglas Barnes coined exploratory talk. This ‘is talk in which everyone is invited to give their ideas and to challenge one another respectfully, share information and give and ask for reasons’ (Barnes, 1976 cited Loxley et al, 2010). Exploratory talk is ‘educationally effective talk, because it enables children to share their thinking and helps groups to do better than each child could have done alone’ (Loxley et al, 2010). The quantity of discourse varies to each lesson/subject/approach but in science, teachers teach children that spoken language is not just for giving information but for ‘interthinking’. Talk is the child’s tool for interthinking as it supports collectively thinking together – making sense of experiences and

In fact, it appears to become an umbrella term for any kind of teacher support (Jacobs, 2001 cited Verenikina:162). However, the theories of Vygotsky and Bruner focus attention on the interactive process of teaching and learning and highlight the importance of effective teacher scaffolding strategies as Modelling – showing children examples of work produced by more-knowledgeable-others; Demonstrating – illustrating the procedures of more-knowledgeable-others go through in producing work; Supporting – children as they learn and practice procedures (Corden, 2007). And as Mooney et al (2007) add, ‘clear scaffolding to ensure children feel supported as the learn is vital; using real-life contexts and not letting children feel exposed or vulnerable is also