Emerging Dialogic Structures in Education Reform - An analysis of Urban Teachers’ Online Compositions

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dhado

This paper contextualizes contemporary urban teachers’ online dissent in public debates on education reform in the United States by connecting present discourse shifts to earlier educational crisis narratives. It analyzes the form and content of teachers’ responses to reform, focusing on digitally mediated roles teachers claim in a contested future-of-education dialogue. Using Bakhtin’s dialogism, the study groups discursive choices as themed arguments and rhetorical moves, showing how teachers’ strategic digital compositions enable critical, multi-voiced conversations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction and Context

Teachers’ Role in Policy Debate

Digital Speech and Dissent

Conceptual Framework

Dialogic Pedagogy and Digital Compositions

Critical Digital Compositions

Examples from Online Discourse

ISSN: 2325-3290 (online) Emerging Dialogic Structures in Education Reform: An analysis of Urban Teachers’ Online Compositions Trevor Thomas Stewart Virginia Tech, USA George L. Boggs Florida State University, USA Abstract This paper contextualizes contemporary urban teachers’ online dissent in public discussions of education reform in relation to past educational crisis narratives to interpret recent shifts in the structure of education reform dialogue in the United States. It does so by examining the form and content of compositions in which teachers respond to education reform. The analysis is intended to describe the digitally mediated roles teachers are asserting in a complex public debate over the future of education in the United States. The structure and content of education reform discourse has often cast teachers in static roles, which inhibits their active participation in discussions of educational policy. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s position that language choices serve to stifle and/or reinvigorate dialogue, we examine contributions to online discussions and debate composed ostensibly by urban teachers in response to dominant discourses. The data were analyzed with respect to discursive choices and grouped subsequently as themed arguments and rhetorical moves. We argue that teachers’ strategic responses to education reform challenge stifling truisms that seek to suspend discussion of all other factors besides teacher quality. Teachers’ critical digital compositions thus re-create critical, multi-voiced conversations in place of monologues about school improvement. The online, public compositions point to the dynamic structure of reform discourse that has the potential to benefit those currently faulted for a variety of social problems. Nurturing and even exploiting the dynamic potential of educational reform discourse can create opportunities for teachers, policymakers, and educational researchers to mutually inform one another’s shared interest in educational improvement. Keywords: Education reform; Teacher activism; Dialogism; Teachers as writers; Dissent; Online civic participation Trevor Thomas Stewart is an Assistant Professor and the Program Leader for English Education at Virginia Tech. His research draws on sociocultural theory and Bakhtin’s dialogic framework for language to explore the influences of educational policy and high-stakes testing on English teachers' instructional practices and efforts to bring content into dialogue with students’ lives. George L. Boggs is Assistant Professor in English Education at Florida State University. His research is grounded in sociocultural theory and focuses on literacies that help people think about and engage in communities, particularly 21st century literacies and authentic writing in and out of school. Acknowledgements: We would like to acknowledge Bob Fecho for facilitating our inquiry into Bakhtin’s work and the lives of teachers; the AERA Writing and Literacies Special Interest Group for encouraging our study of teachers’ compositions and offering us a place to develop our ideas; the teachers who are Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal | [http://dpj.pitt.edu](http://dpj.pitt.edu) [DOI: 10.5195/dpj.2016.148 | Vol. 4](DOI: 10.5195/dpj.2016.148 | Vol. 4) (2016) A142 Emerging Dialogic Structures in Education Reform Trevor Thomas Stewart, George L. Boggs making public advocacy a part of their professional lives; and the editors at Dialogic Pedagogy Journal for their careful feedback and support. 􀀡􀀡􀀢 In the realm of educational policy debate, teachers often feel powerless and excluded from discussions about how to best approach teaching and learning (Stewart, 2012; Rud, 1993) . As education reform directives emanate from centralized education reform sources ([e.g. school](e.g. school) administrators, district policies, state legislation), contemporary management systems are being applied to the teaching profession (Au

FAQs

What does the paper aim to explain about education reform dialogue?

It explains how education reform dialogue has changed in structure by interpreting teachers’ online compositions as they respond to reform discussions in the United States.

How does the study analyze teachers’ online dissent?

It examines the form and content of teachers’ compositions, analyzing discursive choices and grouping them into themed arguments and rhetorical moves.

What role does Bakhtin’s dialogism play in the paper?

The study uses Bakhtin’s view that language choices can stifle or reinvigorate dialogue to interpret how teachers’ contributions reshape reform debate by creating multi-voiced conversations.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dhado