Dialogic Expertise in Practice: How Expert Teachers Orchestrate Classroom Talk in Distinct Mathematics Lesson Types

Abstract

Dialogic teaching, which emphasizes the strategic use of classroom talk to support student thinking, has been widely recognized for its role in promoting deep learning. While previous research has affirmed the benefits of dialogic interaction, little is known about how expert teachers organize and adapt their discourse across different lesson types. This study addresses this gap by examining the distributional and sequential patterns of discourse moves used by expert mathematics teachers in Chinese middle schools during New lessons and Exercise lessons. Drawing on 40 video-recorded lessons, the study combined statistical analysis and process mining based on first-order Markov modeling to identify discourse structures and interaction flows. Findings reveal consistent discourse routines across lesson types, characterized by structured discourse organization and progressive scaffolding strategies that support coherent dialogue and deep conceptual understanding. However, distinct differences emerged in discourse strategy selection, instructional organization, and interactional structuring, reflecting adaptations to the pedagogical goals of each lesson type. These insights enhance understanding of dialogic expertise and inform the design of teacher development initiatives that promote context-sensitive discourse strategies.