ABSTRACT
During the hundreds of exchanges that most teachers have with their pupils every single day of their teaching career, they may give information, ask questions, praise or reprimand, listen to someone, settle a dispute, hear pupils’ accounts of what they are doing and talk socially with an individual or group. Events such as explanations, which happen with great frequency, are well worth analysing in a deliberate and systematic way, for teachers can often slip into set ways of interacting with their pupils. After countless repeats and rehearsals, favoured strategies then become like an old pair of gloves or slippers, so warm and well fitting that one is reluctant to change or discard them, even if they are worn out.
