Developing the foundations for dialogic feedback in order to better understand the 'learning gap' from a pupil's perspective

This paper details a pilot study with 9–10-year olds who are not adequately progressing in their learning. The study explores pupils' own understandings and articulation of their 'learning gap' (the gap between learning now and next) through discussions centred on their feedback and targets from teachers in both numeracy and literacy. A one-to-one dialogic approach is developed that reveals that pupils have very different articulations of their future learning than their teachers in literacy (predominantly writing) and very little notion of any future learning in numeracy. By further understanding ways in which pupils understand their 'learning gap' this study points to ways in which teachers and pupils may use dialogic approaches to more successfully align their differing perceptions to more effectively promote learning.