In this video lecture, Lucy West of Metamorphosis TLC explains there are five types of talk in classrooms:
rote
recitation
instruction
discussion
dialogue
I agree with her – there’s a place for all five in teaching and learning but we need to get the balance right. In my experience this often means increasing the proportion of dialogue.

How one teacher got everyone thinking, talking, listening and learning
Give pupils the skills and resilience to work with a diverse range of people
Talk prompts and sentence stems to help learners express different types of thinking
Help students to use the language of Maths
My top three strategies to make sure every pupil speaks during whole-class learning
An opportunity to take your teaching to the next level
Statements to get your class thinking and talking in the lead-up to the holidays
Three steps to help your class develop their listening skills
Can they remember what everyone else said?