Constructing knowledge through talk: a lesson study analysis of four discursive forms

Teacher professional learning is dialogic and social, yet the specific discursive mechanisms through which it unfolds are often left implicit. This study examines a multi-site set of lesson study cycles in Cypriot primary schools to analyse how teachers construct professional knowledge through talk. Using sociocultural discourse analysis, four interrelated forms of teacher talk, empirical, creative, presentational, and contradictory, are identified and traced in relation to prior and new knowledge about pedagogy and pupils. Empirical talk grounded discussion in classroom realities and established a shared frame of reference. Presentational talk consolidated emerging ideas into teachable sequences. Creative talk generated and warranted new strategies against aims, constraints, and anticipated participation. Contradictory talk provided disciplined scrutiny that tested assumptions and prompted evidence-based revisions. A distinctive contribution concerns the evaluation meeting, where earlier disagreement most reliably became shared learning, converting observation into an explicit change for the next cycle. This article offers a typology-to-knowledge map, a cyclical model of discursive learning, and practice-oriented guidance for designing collaborative professional development centred on dialogue. Implications are considered for sustaining teacher learning in centralised systems, while the article’s primary contribution is to specify how talk contributes to the construction of knowledge in lesson study.