Classroom conversations: What will it take? A commentary on Abbot-Smith et al., 2023

Abstract

In their excellent review paper, Abbot-Smith et al. call for an emphasis on whole-classroom, tier-1 intervention approaches to supporting conversational skills in the preschool and primary grades. In our commentary, we discuss the benefits of and challenges to classroom conversation, particularly during the school transition period (ages 2 through 6), and we highlight several pathways that might help teachers foster more conversation with young children.

Towards an evidence-based approach to fostering collaborative conversation in mainstream primary classrooms: Response to commentators

“…The nature of appropriate support is likely to vary according to children's developmental stage. We agree with Hindman and Chor (2023) that implicitly teaching children how to talk, together with feedback on child-to-child talk which is elicited through 'strategically co-ordinated books, hand-on manipulatives and activities', may well be preferable prior to 6 years. It is less clear how to embed these skills in classroom contexts for older children.…”

Introduction to the special section on topic maintenance in social conversation

“…Two commentaries from the United States (Bryant, 2023;Hindman & Chor, 2023) are in strong agreement with Abbot-Smith et al (2023a), and advocate for teaching social conversation skills starting at a young age, but they also highlight some challenges for the design of teaching and for its implementation. Bryant (2023) discusses cultural and contextual variability in what is appropriate in conversation, together with what meaningful outcomes for teaching look like and how they should be assessed.…”

“…University College London, UK This special section of First Language features a review article by Abbot-Smith et al (2023a) titled 'Topic maintenance in social conversation: What children need to learn and evidence this can be taught' plus commentaries by Bryant (2023), Hindman and Chor (2023), and Snow et al (2023), followed by a response by Abbot-Smith et al (2023b).…”

“…Her proposed solution is that conversation skills should be trained and assessed holistically. Hindman and Chor (2023) focus their commentary on the preschool years (which in the United States cover 2-6-year-olds, prior to the start of elementary school), and in particular the need to make 'sizable and strategic investment' (p.652) in the Early Childhood Education workforce. They argue that investment is needed, fairly obviously, in order to provide high-quality and effective professional development.…”