How Chinese students participate in classroom dialogue with the advancement of new curriculum reform

This study aimed to show how high school students in China participate in classroom dialogue since the advancement of the new curriculum reforms. A coding instrument was developed, which accounted for apparent forms of participation and its quality (i.e., accuracy and cognitive level). There were 289 students involved and a total of 108 lessons were systematically observed. The findings revealed that teachers’ initiating and then students’ contributing was the main form of participation in whole-class dialogues. Much of the dialogues were related to course content and reviews of previously learned knowledge, while was concerned with students’ personal thoughts to a lesser extent. Students were likely to analyse problems and provide explanations, while generalization, speculation and uptakes were identified less frequently in their contributions. A specific account of participatory behaviours in dialogue of high school students in China was provided. With achievements and insufficiencies spotted, the findings should help in making improvements to the reforms in the future.