This paper presents and analyzes two examples of classroom discourse which belong to the genre of "talk about texts." Both are extracts from discussions between a small group of primary school students and their teacher (in England) on the topic of short texts of narrative fiction which they have just read together during the "Literacy Hour"; the discussions are therefore examples of a form of comprehension activity familiar in many classrooms. Drawing on concepts from the work of the Bakhtin Circle, the paper argues that one of the sequences exemplifies "pedagogical dialogue," in which someone who knows and possesses the truth instructs someone who is in error. It interprets the second sequence as an instance of "internally persuasive discourse," in which students are required to retell the story in their own words and voice their own evaluative orientations, rather than reciting it by heart. It concludes that, because talk about literary texts is a non-algorithmic form of knowledge, a dialogical pedagogy is better suited to inducting students into this form of literacy practice than are approaches which rely on scores in standardized tests. In the face of increasing state prescription of curriculum and pedagogy, the introduction of payment by results, and the dogmatic dismissal by the New Labor government of all of its policies as "elitism," it must be doubted whether a general shift from "pedagogical dialogue" to a dialogical pedagogy can be accomplished without collective action on the part of the teaching force aimed at regaining a measure of professional autonomy and securing greater control over the exercise of their own labor power. (Contains 29 references.) (RS)