“I Also Like It That People Care About Me.” Children’s Dialogues on Values, Emotions and Feelings in Dialogic Literary Gatherings

ABSTRACT

This study explores the dialogues about social values, emotions and feelings that emerge during the implementation of dialogic literary gatherings (DLG). DLG is a classroom-based program grounded in the dialogic reading of classic books. Ten DLG sessions with fourth-grade students (n = 126) were implemented in five elementary schools in Spain. The analysis of dialogues that took place in selected DLG sessions reveals that students discuss a range of topics related to social values, emotions or feelings and that they relate these topics to different domains in their daily life (classroom experiences, relationships with their family or peers, etc.). The results suggest that the interactive environment surrounding classic books that is created in DLG allows students to address themes that matter to them, thus providing the students with valuable opportunities to increase their social and emotional awareness.

KEYWORDS:

• Dialogue
• literacy development
• literature
• social interaction

Acknowledgments

The authors of the study would like to acknowledge the support from the Spanish Government National Programme for Research, under Grant: EDU2015-66395-R. Also, we would like to express our gratitude to the teachers, fourth-grade students and schools who participated in the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Government National Programme for Research [EDU2015-66395-R].

Notes on contributors

Andrea Khalfaoui-Larrañaga

Andrea Khalfaoui-Larrañaga, Ph.D., is a researcher at the University of Deusto (Spain). She has participated in different RTD competitive projects focused on developing interactive learning environments for academic and social success.

Pilar Alvarez

Pilar Alvarez, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Spain). Her research work is focused on educational actions aimed at tackling educational inequalities and promoting social inclusion with different groups.

Prudencia Gutiérrez-Esteban

Prudencia Gutiérrez-Esteban, Ph.D., is a Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Extremadura (Spain). Her teaching and research work are focused on Teacher Training, Educational Innovation and Teaching Methods and Educational Technology.

Ramón Flecha

Ramón Flecha, Ph.D., is a Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Barcelona (Spain). He has been the Main Researcher of FP5 WORKALÓ (2001-2004), FP6 INCLUD-ED (2006-2011), FP7 IMPACT-EV (2014-2017) and H2020 ALLINTERACT (2020-2023). His scientific contributions cover different areas: research methodology, economy, education, cultural groups and new masculinities.