In place of unidirectional transmission of information, discourse on feedback advocates approaches that are more dialogic and promote student agency. The design review is a signature feedback method in architectural education. Although the review's format involves verbal interaction between students and reviewers regarding the students' design projects, there are differing views over the extent to which it aligns with a dialogic feedback ethos. This study analyses the talk between students and reviewers during design review sessions, using four established potentialities for student learning in dialogic feedback and applying interaction analysis to understand the conversational exchanges taking place. The findings reveal that contributions by reviewers dominated the sessions. However, they also posed questions, were willing to listen and employed talk strategies that build trust. Students responded to questions, but rarely took the initiative in their session. In considering implications for learning, several strategies to curate more student-centred dialogue are identified, especially around ways that elicit students' engagement and nurtures their active reflection, critical thinking and feedback seeking, to harness latent interactional opportunities. These could apply to the design review or similar feedback methods based on student presentations.