The introduction of digital tools in response to instructional needs require the development of accompanying teaching approaches guiding their application. This study aimed to identify one such approach in upper-secondary education language teaching with response technology (RT), and situate it within the existing field of research on applied RT. Qualitative data from the two phase (exploratory and intervention) case study identified and tested discursive lecturing as a dialogical approach to language teaching, where class communication is aided by RT. The approach was found to resemble question-driven instruction (Beatty et al. in Am J Phys 74(1):31-39, 2006a, in Audience response systems in higher education: Applications and cases, IGI Global, 96-115, 2006b), but significantly diverge from this and other models for RT in the coherence of its procedure, and the integration of generative, active learning for the student and agile teaching to guide the progress of language learning. This indicates that RT provides potential for student-centring by affording classroom interaction based on student responses, where the rigidity of the teacher's pre-planned lecture or question structures is replaced by a teaching agility which accommodates student production.