The effects of professional development on student-to-student dialogue research

This study seeks to examine how professional development related to Zwiers and Crawford\u27s (2011) five core academic conversation skills affects teachers\u27 implementation of student-to-student dialogue activities in the classroom. Experiential learning and critical reflection are two pedagogical methods that were used with the aim of providing teachers with a transformative learning experience. (Mezirow, 1996) Data collection methods in this research included: a teacher workshop pre- and post-survey, a whole class student survey, student and teacher unstructured interviews and stimulated recall sessions. The results of this research demonstrated that professional development in Zwiers and Crawford\u27s (2011) five core academic skills led to increases in content understanding, engagement and motivation, use of academic language and assessment of oral language skills in the classroom