The most common patterns of classroom dialogue used by science teachers in Omani cycle two schools

This study aimed to identify the patterns of classroom dialogue used by science teachers in science classes at Omani schools with respect to their gender. The study sample consisted of science teachers: three males and three females. To achieve the aims of the study, mixed methods with three instruments were used. These are an observation card or tool composed of items developed and divided into two domains: whole class dialogue and non-whole class dialogue. In addition, an interview was conducted in a sort of focus group and two lessons were video recorded. The study found that the most common patterns of science class dialogue were: teacher to student dialogue, teacher with student dialogue and teacher thinking with student dialogue. The least common patterns of science class dialogue were: student to student dialogue and all the kinds of non-whole classroom dialogue. The findings showed that female science teachers had better practices than male teachers in: Teacher to student dialogue, teacher with student dialogue and teacher thinking with student dialogue. Whereas there were no significant differences in student to student dialogue, individual work dialogue and group work dialogue, the whole sample didn't show any movement work dialogue between male and female teachers.