#604: (Mis)aligning dialogic practices and beliefs: Teacher change during video-based professional development

This case study investigates how teacher beliefs, practices, and perceptions of student ability jointly shape the trajectories of teacher change within a video-based professional development (PD) programme on dialogic teaching. Through a comparative analysis of two English language teachers who participated in five monthly PD cycles, we triangulated data from student surveys, teacher reflections, and post-PD interviews. Findings reveal that while both teachers attempted to use Academically Productive Talk moves, their underlying beliefs critically mediated the outcomes. The teacher with constructivist and evaluatist beliefs fostered a co-constructive classroom and achieved significant gains in student perceived discursive engagement. The teacher with transmissive and absolutist beliefs appropriated talk moves for recitation, with no significant student perceived impact. The study concludes that effective PD must move beyond transmitting tools to explicitly target and support the evolution of teacher beliefs, which act as the primary filter for pedagogical change.