Dialogue through the eyes : exploring teachers’ focus of attention during educational dialogue

Abstract

This study explored teachers’ focus of attention during educational dialogue. Teachers’ focus of attention was recorded in 54 Grade 1 classrooms using Tobii Pro Glasses 2 mobile eye-tracking device. From the video recordings, episodes of educational dialogue were identified and categorised by quality. Teacher’s focus of attention on students was examined during the dialogue episodes. Results showed that teachers allocated their attention relatively unevenly among the students. More students got visual attention during high-quality educational dialogue than during moderate-quality dialogue. This study provides insight into the quality of educational dialogue by combining assessment of the verbal dialogue with observations of the non-verbal focus of teacher’s attention in classroom.