Six Teachers' Dialogue during Cognitive Process Instruction

The instruction of 6 teachers in a private school for bright underachievers that is characterized by a strategic teaching initiative, strong instructional leadership, and collegiality was examined to characterize the nature of instructional dialogue. Lesson transcripts were coded for the presence and organization of 8 instructional "moves" often found in good strategy instruction. Results demonstrated teachers' fidelity to a particular vision of instruction. Instructional moves designed to make strategic processing specific and explicit were found in all lessons, with the majority of the lessons containing at least 7 of the 8 strategy instruction moves. Instruction was found to be transactional and process-oriented. Interactive cycles of dialogue, during which teachers were responsive to students' strategic construction of knowledge, were prevalent. Student and teacher demographic variables were considered as they related to characteristics of instruction. The transactional strategy instruction found here is likened to instruction described by Duffy and Roehler and is contrasted with a recitation model of instruction.