Faculty Publications

Navigating Instructional Dialectics: Empirical Exploration Of Paradox In Teaching

Document Type

Article

Keywords

contradiction, dialectic strategies, Dialectic theory, instruction, teacher paradox

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Communication Education

Volume

67

Issue

1

First Page

7

Last Page

30

Abstract

Navigating contradiction represents an integral part of the teaching process. While educational literature has discussed the paradoxes that teachers experience in the classroom, minimal empirical research has analyzed the strategies teachers employ to address these paradoxes. Using relational dialectics as a theoretical framework for understanding paradoxes in teaching, we analyzed extensive interview data from 19 postsecondary instructors regarding the learning-oriented dialectics teachers experience and navigate. Findings here extend dialectics into a new instructional context by identifying three supradialectics these teachers experienced, as well as the strategies they report using to assist student learning in light of those dialectics. Subsequent analysis illustrates the dialectic nature of teacher strategies used in the classroom, offering insight into how teachers navigate dialectic tensions daily in the classroom. Further, this study provides researchers theoretical knowledge and evidence regarding how dialectic tensions and strategies function differently across communication contexts.

Department

Department of Communication and Media

Original Publication Date

1-2-2018

DOI of published version

10.1080/03634523.2017.1388527

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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