Chapter 2: Learning to Think as Becoming Dialogue: An Ontologic-Dialogic Account of Learning and Teaching Thinking

Teaching thinking has long been a goal of education. Attempts to teach thinking are influenced by the metaphor or model of thinking that is assumed. In this chapter I develop a dialogic account of thinking and of learning to think that has implications for education. This model is influenced by theory but also by classroom experience and research. I begin the chapter by unpacking and interweaving three key concepts: dialogue, thinking, and learning. Through this I develop the argument that learning to think can be understood as a shift in self-identification towards becoming dialogue. I then apply this new way of understanding learning to think to the context of primary classrooms by analyzing three short episodes of talk and interaction. Out of this theoretically informed analysis, I claim that understanding learning to think as becoming dialogue offers valuable insights that have the potential to improve the practice of teaching thinking.