Dialogic teaching in secondary classrooms in China: Features, commonalities, and distinctiveness

The article focuses on teacher talk and the extent to which teacher talk is structured to create a dialogic environment in secondary English language classrooms in China. This study is based on the data collected from three secondary schools of different types in order to present a more comprehensive picture. We identify and compare the features of teacher talk by looking closely at the initiative and follow-up moves used by the teachers in the 48 observed classes. In general, the quantitative analysis suggests that English language teaching in secondary schools in China does not present many features of the practice of dialogic teaching, although there are statistically significant differences between schools and between grade levels. The quantitative analysis is accompanied by sociocultural discourse analysis conducted to contextualise the pattern of teacher talk. It contributes to our understanding of the extent to which the teachers practised dialogic teaching in the classrooms. This study aims to gain a comprehensive picture of teacher talk in secondary EFL classrooms in China, shed light on how teacher talk mediates and shapes student engagement, and promote effective dialogic teaching in China.