Reciprocity as a Principle of Educational Discourse

This book collates Martin Nystrand’s research across his 40-year career, bringing together his studies on the dialogic organization of both writing and classroom discourse.

First published in 1986, Nystrand’s work on writing examines how writer–reader interaction shapes writers' processes, texts, and development. Extending this focus to pedagogical contexts, his classroom discourse research probes the role of classroom interaction in student learning and included the first large-scale empirical study to document the role of open classroom discussion in middle and high school student learning. Drawing from the conceptual framework of the Bakhtin Circle and other related works, this collection elucidates the role of reciprocity in the management and transformation of conversant interaction in both writer–reader interaction and in classroom discourse.

A foundational work in dialogic pedagogy, this volume is essential reading for teachers and researchers interested in dialogic pedagogy, discourse studies, education research, and historiography.