According to socio-cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), learning and cognitive development take place through a social interaction between the learner and a more knowledgeable other, in classroom, a teacher. This study is an attempt to deal with teacher-student interaction within the framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain and to create some changes in teachers’ pedagogical practices in Turkish classrooms. Bloom’s Taxonomy was created to promote higher forms of thinking in education. In this study, first, teachers teaching Turkish to different grades at different schools were video-recorded in their classes with their students. After these observations, a teacher training course on Cognitive Domain and dialogicality was given to teachers in order to develop their awareness about their pedagogical practices and the cognitive level of the dialogue that takes place in the classrooms. Following the training, teachers were recorded in their classes in the same way again. Finally, after the discourse transcription, the cognitive levels of teachers’ utterances were classified with regard to Cognitive Domain, and a comparison of the data recorded before and after the training was designed to determine whether the training course had positive effects on teachers. Since language has the power to shape our consciousness, even a small change in the language of schooling may result in students’ participation, thus it can enhance their success. The results of this study indicated the benefit of training to carry out a more systematic and reflective pedagogical practice. The teachers who received training were able to produce utterances on the higher cognitive levels which also increased the cognitive levels of students’ utterances and the dialogue in classrooms.
References
[1]
Alexander, R. (2004). Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk. Cambridge: Dialogos UK.
[2]
Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
[3]
Behnam, B., & Pouriran, Y. (2009). Classroom Discourse: Analyzing Teacher/Learner Interactions in Iranian EFL Task- Based Classrooms. Porta Linguarum, 12, 117-132.
[4]
Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Book I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David Mckay.
[5]
Brock, C. A. (1986). The Effects of Referential Questions on ESL Classroom Discourse. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 77-59.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3586388
[6]
Carter, R., & Nunan, D. (2001). Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667206
[7]
Cazden, C. (1988). Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning. Porthmouth, NH: Heinemann.
[8]
Dornyei, Z. (2007). Creating a Motivating Classroom Environment. In J. Cummins, & Ch. Davison (Eds.), International Handbook of English Language Teaching (pp. 719-731). New York: Springer Science-Business Media, Inc.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_47
[9]
Faruji, L. F. (2011). Discourse Analysis of Questions in Teacher Talk. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1, 1820- 1826. http://dx.doi.org/10.4304/tpls.1.12.1820-1826
[10]
Fisher, R. (2006). Thinking Skills. In Arthur, J., Grainger, T. & Wray, D. (Eds). Learning to Teach in Primary School (pp. 226-238). Routledge: Falmer.
[11]
Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom’s Taxonomy: Original and Revised. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology (E-Book). https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf
[12]
Grugeon, E., & Hubbard, P. (2006). Learning through Dialogue. In J. Arthur, T. Grainger, & D. Wray (Eds.), Learning to Teach in Primary School (pp. 239-250). Routledge: Falmer.
[13]
Gumus, I., Ermurat, D.G., Kaya, Y., Kirici, M., & Kurt, M. (2009). Analysis for High School Biology Exam Questions According to Their Cognitive Development Levels. Erzincan Egitim Fakultesi Dergisi Cilt-Say?, 11-12, 151-162.
[14]
Hicks, D. (1995). Discourse, Learning, and Teaching. Review of Research in Education, 21, 49-95.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1167279
[15]
Hsiao, C. (2005). Teacher-Student Communication Patterns in an English Language Class: Examination of Classroom Discourse. Academic Journal of Kang Ning, 7, 285-304.
[16]
Huttenlocher, J., Waterfall, H., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J., & Hedges, L. V. (2010). Sources of Variability in Children’s Language Growth. Cognitive Psychology, 61, 343-365. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.08.002
[17]
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview. Theory into Practice, 41, 212-218.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2
[18]
Lefstein, A., & Snell, J. (2011). Classroom Discourse: The Promise and Complexity of Dialogic Practice. In S. Ellis, E. McCartney, & Bourne, J. (Eds.), Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching (pp. 165-185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511921605.018
[19]
Mercer, N. (2000). Words and Minds: How We Use Language to Think Together. London: Routledge.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203464984
[20]
Mercer, N. (2002). Developing Dialogues. In G. Wells, & G. Claxton (Eds.) Learning for Life in the C21st: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education. Oxford: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470753545.ch11
[21]
Nasir, M., & Abdul Majid Khan, R. (2006). Constructivist Classroom: Elements of Class Discourse as Measure of Constructivist Practice. Bulletin of Education & Research, 28, 23-34.
[22]
Nathan, M. J., Kim, S., & Grant, T. S. (2009). Instituting Change in Classroom Discourse Structure: Human and Computer Based Motif Analysis. (WCER Working Paper No. 2009-1). Madison: Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin. http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/workingPapers/papers.php
[23]
Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin English.
[24]
Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A., & Carbonaro, W. (2001). On the Ecology of Classroom Instruction: The Case of Writing in High School English and Social Studies. In P. Tynjala, L. Mason, & K. Londa (Eds.), Writing as a Learning Tool (pp. 57- 81). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0740-5_5
[25]
Smith, C. (2005). Developing Children’s Oral Skills at Key Stage 2. In E. Grugeon, L. Dawes, C. Smith, & L. Hubbard (Eds.), Teaching Speaking and Listening in the Primary School (3rd ed., pp. 84-102). London: David Fulton Publishers.
[26]
Turner, J. C., Warzon, K. B., & Christensen, A. (2011). Motivating Mathematics Learning: Changes in Teachers’ Practices and Beliefs during a Nine-Month Collaboration. American Educational Research Journal, 48, 718-762.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0002831210385103
[27]
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
[28]
Wells, G. (1999) Dialogic Inquiry: Towards a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605895
[29]
Xu, X.-H. (2010). Analysis of Teacher Talk on the Basis of Relevance Theory. Canadian Social Science, 6, 45-50.
[30]
Zhang, Y. (2008). Classroom Discourse and Student Learning. Asian Social Science, 4, 80-83.
