Dialogical writing means composing a conversation that involves two or more characters. This type of writing requires specific use of quotation marks, commas, and other punctuation marks along with tags (e.g., he said, she remarked) to identify who is the speaker in the dialogue.
When planning a dialogical activity, decide on the following:
1. How long should the dialogue be?
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- The dialogue should be long enough to capture the spirit and themes from the interaction. Identifying a certain number of lines, phrases, statements, or other measurement will be useful for establishing the length of the dialogue.
2. How much do students need to know about punctuating dialogue before writing it?
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- To begin, students should write the actual statements that the characters in the dialogue would say, yell, whisper, etc. Next, teachers can make sure the dialogue tags are included to identify the speakers, such as he yelled and she uttered. Finally, students can add the quotations marks, commas, and other punctuation marks needed for the dialogue.
3. What type of language should be used in the dialogue?
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- The dialogue should use the phrases, expressions, and pronunciations that are authentic to the characters speaking in it. For example, characters from a Shakespearean times would speak differently than characters on a farm in the rural South during the 1950s, and they would speak differently than fashion aficionados from Paris in modern times.