British Educational Research Journal

This article presents a focused analysis of teacher and student interaction in feedback conversations to contribute to an understanding of feedback as a dialogic process. Extending the work of previous research, two new and detailed coding frameworks—one for teacher feedback and another for student feedback—were developed to capture teacher–student interactions in feedback conversations. The codings were used to quantitatively and qualitatively analyse how opportunities were opened or closed for student contribution. The article draws on data from video and audio recordings and transcripts from 12 participants (six teacher/student pairs in Year 9 in secondary schools in a range of discipline areas), involved in one‐to‐one feedback conversations. The study took place in a standards‐based assessment system where criteria and standards (rubrics) are the basis of teacher judgement of student performance. Taking an inclusive research approach, student participants included students who had identified special learning needs. The findings identify how the shifts in teacher–student feedback conversations can be captured to demonstrate the intricacies of these interactions and, in particular, how the development of student self‐regulatory skills was supported in some conversations but not in others. The study demonstrates how the dialogic nature of feedback can contribute to learning for both student and teacher.