Embedding Microblogging Technology to Support Classroom Dialogue

It’s crucial for teachers to support the development of students’ dialogic skills. Such skills refer to the students’ use of language as a tool to enable understanding of each other’s knowledge, which creates the possibility of constructing new knowledge together. Digital technology in classroom activities can support this form of dialogue, but it must be embedded into a classroom’s complex ecosystem to be beneficial. This paper explores how a group of seventh grade students were taught dialogic skills through the integration of microblogging in the classroom. The data analysed consists of video from the classroom, and the study is grounded in sociocultural theory. Findings suggest that integrating microblogging in classroom activities increased participation and made students’ contributions more visible, thus creating the opportunity for students to build on each other’s knowledge. However, this is dependent on the teachers’ facilitation of the activities.