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"I would not be surprised if this volume eventually earned the status of a classic in its field.... By directing our attention to the continual unfolding of social interaction, Nystrand and his colleagues remind us that, given the freedom and generative uncertainty of open-ended conversation, learning often is built on surprises."
–From the Foreword by Robert Gundlach, Northwestern University
"This study is sophisticated in design, powerfully framed in theory, and unique in its scope."
–Arthur N. Applebee, SUNY-Albany
"Opening Dialogue should strongly influence the way educators think about classrooms and learning. . . . The study has much to say to teachers, as well as to researchers and theorists."
–Melanie Sperling, Stanford University
"Opening Dialogue provides a kind of grounding that I think is extremely important at this point in the course of inquiry for a sociocultural perspective."
–James V. Wertsch, Washington University
Opening Dialogue examines the effects of classroom discourse on learning in 8th- and 9th-grade literature classes, with broad implications for all grade levels and subjects. Dozens of schools and thousands of students participated in this study–the largest in the field.
Contents: Dialogic Instruction: When Recitation Becomes Conversation • The Big Picture: Language and Learning in Hundreds of English Lessons • A Closer Look at Authentic Interaction: Profiles of Student—Teacher Talk in Two Classrooms • What’s a Teacher to Do?
