Exploring Dialogic Pedagogy: Fostering Writing Proficiency in First Grade Classrooms through Interactive Conversations and Collaborative Learning

This action research study investigates the effectiveness of dialogic pedagogy in enhancing writing proficiency among first-grade students. The purpose of the study was to determine if interactive conversations and collaborative learning positively influence young learners' writing skills development. Seventeen students (8 male, 9 female) from a suburban first-grade classroom participated in the study. The teacher implemented daily opinion read-aloud instruction and facilitated oral and written discussions about characters and students' opinions. Assessments included measures of accuracy, retelling, oral responses, written responses, and quality. A paired sample t-test was used to examine change from pretest to posttest on students’ writing quality and to examine the number of elements used in writing and in oral retellings. The findings indicate that integrating dialogic teaching methods in first-grade classrooms can boost students' writing skills, especially in opinion writing. Structured read-alouds and group discussions led to an increase in opinion writing quality, as indicated by the paired sample t-test findings. There were also significant gains in oral fiction and opinion retelling, as indicated by the paired sample t-test findings.