Strategies for facilitating productive dialogue in collaborative learning

By Liu Ziyu; Institute of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, China

Collaboration is more than just a 21st-century skill—it’s a powerful teaching strategy that helps students grow cognitively, socially, and emotionally. While group work is common in classrooms, simply putting students together doesn’t guarantee success. As with adults in professional settings, young learners benefit from clear guidance and practice to collaborate effectively. Without structured support, group tasks can lead to frustration or off-task behavior rather than meaningful learning.

Recent research underscores the transformative power of well-guided collaboration. A 2024 review of 24 studies by Dr. Liru Hu and Dr. Gaowei Chen found that when students elaborateon their own ideas and respond to the ideas of others, known as “productive peer talk moves,” they experience better learning outcomes. These strategies led to strong improvements in the quality of student interactions (Hedge’s g = 1.27), boosted subject-specific knowledge (g = 0.96), and strengthened general skills like critical thinking (g = 1.02). Even problem-solving abilities saw moderate gains (g = 0.70). These findings highlight that when students engage in meaningful dialogue, they don’t just master content—they also learn to work together more effectively.

To foster effective collaboration, teachers can start by embedding proven effective “talk moves” into everyday instruction. For example,  follow-up questions like “Can you explain why you think that?” or “How does your idea connect to what we learned yesterday?” promote reasoningand help students build on one another’s ideas. Equally important is combining explicit training with in-the-moment support. Before group work, teachers can model how to ask constructive questions (“I wonder if…” or “What if we tried…?”) and explain their purpose (“Questions help us dig deeper!”). During activities, tools like sentence starters (“I agree because…” or “Another perspective is…”) can keep discussions productive. Teachers should circulate the room to gently redirect off-task groups (“Let’s revisit our main goal…”), ensuring conversations stay focused, respectful, and inclusive.