🗣️ EBTD Guide to Student Discussion & Classroom Talk
From Silence to Thinking — Building Classrooms Where Every Voice Matters
The Challenge We Face
Walk into a typical classroom in Bangladesh and you’ll hear a familiar rhythm — the teacher explaining, students listening, heads down, pens moving. It’s ordered, respectful, and focused. But it’s also one-directional. Students rarely ask questions or discuss ideas with each other. Learning becomes about remembering, not reasoning.
Research from BRAC IED, CAMPE, and university studies across Dhaka, Chattogram, and Rajshahi shows that classroom interaction in Bangladesh remains dominated by lecture and recall, with limited student dialogue or problem-solving. Large class sizes, fixed seating, and exam-driven expectations make it difficult for teachers to invite open talk.
Yet, where schools have tried — even in small ways — the results have been remarkable. Inquiry-Based Learning pilots in Dhaka (2025) found that when students had regular opportunities for structured discussion, they became more confident, collaborative, and better able to explain their reasoning. Talk isn’t noise. Talk is thinking made visible.
Why Talk Matters
The science of learning is clear: students don’t fully understand something until they can explain it. That act of saying what they know and why they know it builds memory, metacognition, and transfer — the hallmarks of deep learning.
Research from Neil Mercer, Robin Alexander, and the EEF shows that dialogue in the classroom improves:
- Reasoning and problem-solving
- Self-regulation and motivation
- Language, vocabulary, and confidence
For teachers, classroom talk becomes a formative mirror — letting you hear misconceptions and adapt your teaching. For leaders, it becomes a culture of thinking — one where learning is built through conversation, not silence.
Two Audiences, One Mission
This guide is written for everyone working to improve classrooms in Bangladesh — from the lone teacher trying something new tomorrow, to leadership teams building a culture of active learning across their school.
If you’re a teacher…
You’ll find routines, prompts, and lesson designs that make talk possible — even in crowded rooms.
If you’re a school leader…
You’ll find frameworks, CPD ideas, and review tools for developing a school-wide culture of purposeful discussion.
Both journeys meet at the same goal: students who think aloud, teachers who listen deeply, and schools where dialogue drives learning.
What You’ll Find Inside the Guide
- The Current Reality – What Research Tells Us About Talk in Bangladeshi Classrooms
A clear-eyed evidence review: what the studies show, what’s blocking change, and why it matters. - Structure First – Making Talk Physically Possible
How seating, layout, and movement shape participation — with visual examples and routines for “Home” and “Active” modes. - Modelling Talk – Teaching Students How to Learn Through Dialogue
Sentence stems, routines, and talk frames that build confidence and respectful listening. - Lesson Design for Thinking Talk – Planning, Dialogue, and Metacognition in Action
How to embed purposeful discussion into lessons and help students use talk to plan, monitor, and reflect on their own learning. - Leadership & Culture – Growing a School That Values Talk
How leaders can create professional dialogue, support coaching, and normalise evidence-led reflection. - Implementation Roadmap – A Practical Plan for Change
How to lead this shift step by step, measure progress, and sustain new habits across your school.
Each section includes:
- Evidence summaries (global and Bangladesh)
- Practical tools (routines, posters, templates)
- Reflection questions for teachers and leaders
- Downloadable planning sheets for CPD and classroom use
What About the Early Years?
Talk begins long before formal schooling. In the early years, conversation through play, story, and imagination builds the foundations of thinking aloud. Young children learn by narrating their actions, explaining choices, and listening to others.
That’s why EBTD has created a dedicated annex: Talk in the Early Years – Foundations for Thinking Aloud. It shows how playful dialogue grows into structured talk routines in primary and beyond — bridging curiosity, language, and reasoning.
In later stages (Primary to A-Level), the same principles apply but the complexity of questioning, task structure, and independence increase. Short, guided exchanges in primary evolve into open-ended reasoning and debate by A-Level — the same bridge, just further across.
Our Starting Point
Before we can change classroom talk, we need to understand what’s really happening inside Bangladeshi classrooms today.
The research paints a clear picture: teacher talk dominates, student voices are limited, and discussion — when it happens — is often short, unstructured, and low-stakes. But it also shows that even modest, well-planned shifts — new seating routines, talk scaffolds, or lesson designs — can dramatically improve engagement and learning.
👉 Next: The Current Reality – What Research Tells Us About Talk in Bangladeshi Classrooms
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