Ground Rules for Talk

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Dialogic Teaching & Discussion in 04 Questioning & Discussion, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

Groups do not fall into exploratory talk by accident. Mercer found that teaching its norms transforms discussion, with one detail that changes how you should do it: norms co-constructed with the class outperform norms displayed or modelled.

The making is part of the mechanism. Rules a class wrote together are rules they can hold each other to.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

A class spends ten minutes drafting its own rules for discussion: everyone's ideas get considered, reasons are asked for, we try to agree before we move on. The wording is the pupils' own. It goes on the wall afterwards because they wrote it, not so that they will read it.

Try it

A way to begin

Before the next discussion-heavy topic, give ten minutes to agreeing the ground rules with the class instead of presenting yours.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• Whether pupils invoke the rules unprompted during group work.
• Who enforces them when they are broken: you, or the group.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• Co-construction is the active ingredient. The card is explicit that displayed or modelled norms underperform, so resisting the efficient shortcut is the strategy.
• Success criteria built with the class work by a similar mechanism, which is why the formative assessment strand has a sibling card.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• 🗣 Exploratory Talk Mercer distinguishes disputational, cumulative and exploratory talk. Only exploratory talk, where students challenge ideas with evidence and build on each thinking, improves outcomes. 04 Questioning & Discussion · Dialogic Teaching & Discussion
• 👨‍🏫 Accountable Talk Michaels, O’Connor and Resnick hold students to accurate knowledge and rigorous reasoning. Teach moves: I agree because..., The evidence is..., Say more.... Language shapes thinking. 04 Questioning & Discussion · Dialogic Teaching & Discussion
• 🤝 Build Success Criteria Together Ask students what excellent looks like before they begin. Their language, not yours, becomes the standard. Criteria they articulate themselves land far more deeply than criteria handed to them. 02 Formative Assessment · Clarify Learning Intentions
• 💬 Five Principles of Dialogic Talk Alexander identifies five qualities of dialogic talk: collective, reciprocal, supportive, cumulative and purposeful. Most talk meets two or three of these. Audit and start with the gaps. 04 Questioning & Discussion · Dialogic Teaching & Discussion

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

This comes from the same programme of Mercer's research as exploratory talk; the ground rules are how that kind of talk is taught rather than hoped for. The card’s attribution stands as published: Mercer.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Questioning & Discussion.