Dialogic reading for the development of reflective thinking

Abstract

The contribution explores the use of dialogic reading in professional contexts. It investigates its potential and possible uses in relation to the development of reflective thinking of adults engaged in the professions. In this sense, it briefly illustrates the theoretical framework of reference, with particular regard to the construct of community of thought, a fundamental condition for the development of reflective thought with its characteristics of reciprocity, democracy and, indeed, dialogicality. It is precisely from the idea of the dialogicality of the community as logos, thought put in common – a condition for the transformation of reality and self-awareness, both in an individual and collective sense – that the hypothesis of the use of dialogical reading in professional contexts, whether ordinary, heuristic or educational, arises. For example, the community, as a group of speakers, through reflection on practices, described and noted down by professionals with special protocols, not only lays the foundations for the exchange of these practices and their improvement, but above all fosters awareness of one’s own motivations, conceptions, and the values underlying one’s actions, subjecting them to the critical scrutiny of thought and opening them up to third-level reflection, capable of transforming whatever is inadequate, outdated or limiting.
In the light of the same conception, the community use of the dialogical reading of theoretical texts, appropriately chosen, allows to trigger, in various forms and at various levels, a virtuous circularity between theory and praxis, capable of inspiring reflection about the conceptual generalization nec-essary for the true change of ideas.
In this sense, the contribution will return the results of the qualitative research The Reflective Teacher (Michelini M.C., 2016. Fare Comunità di pensiero. L’insegnamento come pratica riflessiva...