Surviving its Own Rhetoric: Building a Conversational Community within the Social Studies

Abstract

In this article, the authors construct an argument citing the need for a conversational community within the social studies profession. After noting the need for more research to aid in understanding the field of social education, they explore relevant attributes of a conversational community. Seeking to service, in part, the research need and apply the conversational community conception to the social studies profession, the authors develop three researchable questions related to conversational practice. In short, they asked 1) who speaks, 2) what are the topics of discourse, and 3) how is language used? The authors conclude that while a conversational community does exist, certain practices inhibit its full potential.