Loss of the Creature: The Obscuring of Inclusivity in Classroom Discourse

Abstract

Amidst few empirical studies of the effects of high stakes testing on classroom talk, this study concretely illustrates erosion of inclusive teacher-student interaction. Using discourse analysis, it compares K-12 classroom instructional practices before and after the imposition of standardized testing and illuminates the negative transformation of five inclusionary discursive practices. Before testing mandates: 1) diversity was regarded as a resource for opportunities to learn something valuable; 2) standards for academic achievement provided a wide range of possible performances; 3) teachers and students were flexible in their stances toward what constituted academic performance; 4) students' constructed student “selves” were part of a dialogue about academic expectations; and 5) students' personal texts were a legitimate part of the curriculum. In test-impacted classrooms, in contrast, meanings for diversity, performance standards, and performance stances contracted, and talk about students' selves and their personal texts narrowed. In an illustrative case, an “at risk” student's effort to express his point is overridden by his teacher's well-meaning urgency to clean up his prose to meet testing expectations for literate language. The discourse analytic approach informing this research can also inform teacher education and professional development.

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