Abstract
Conversation is mandatory in a classroom that aims to develop the learners’ critical thinking
skills. Critical thinking is facilitated in general and in nursing education particularly in order to
aid learners to render care in diverse multicultural patient care settings. Classroom conversation
involves thinking as an interactive process that constitutes the use of dialectics and dialogue.
However where the aim is to facilitate critical thinking the conversation cannot be haphazard.
Conversation in the classroom must have structure as it happens in dialectical dialogue.
Purpose: This paper aims to explore and describe how dialectical dialogue can be used in
classroom conversations to facilitate critical thinking. Design: A qualitative, exploratory and
descriptive research design was used. Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to draw
a sample and Miles, Huberman & Sadana’s methodology of qualitative data analysis was used
to analyse data. Trustworthiness: Lincoln and Guba’s strategies were employed to ensure
trustworthiness, while Dhai and McQuoid-Mason’s principles of ethical consideration were
employed. Findings: The conceptualisation of findings culminated in the formulation of
guidelines on how dialectical dialogue can be used to facilitate critical thinking in the
classroom.