Teaching Literature Dialogically: Applying Dialogical Self Theory to Foster Classroom Inquiry, Identity Development, and Reflective Teaching in Secondary English

Secondary English instruction often reduces literary analysis to fixed interpretations that overlook the dialogic nature of narrative and adolescent identity development. This article argues that Dialogical Self Theory (DST) provides a powerful framework for restoring literature’s polyphonic richness and fostering inquiry-driven classroom practice. Drawing on Bakhtin’s multivoiced novel and Hermans’s conception of the self as a dynamic configuration of I-positions, DST enables students to examine how characters negotiate competing voices, social discourses, and situated experiences of authenticity. Through pedagogical demonstrations using Julius Caesar and American Born Chinese, I show how students collaboratively map internal and external positions, analyse power dynamics, and adopt meta-positions that deepen interpretive flexibility and support identity work. DST also benefits teachers by offering language to navigate the multiple, often competing professional roles they inhabit. Integrating DST into English instruction positions literary analysis as a relational, socially situated process that strengthens both student inquiry and teacher resilience.