Towards an analysis of discourse 33We have so far mentioned only the characteristic places in the structure
of transactions at which three teacher-initiated, and two pupil-initiated
exchanges can occur. Even more tentatively we can suggest that the teacher-
initiated check exchange typically occurs in a directing transaction before
the final elicit exchange. The teacher here is usually checking on pupils’
progress with the task he directed them to do at the beginning of the
transaction.
We can specify no ordering for the bound exchanges. They occur after
a T-Direct or T-Elicit exchange, but whether any or all occur, and in what
order, is dependent on unpredictable reactions to and involvement with the
teacher’s presentation of the topic.
THE STRUCTURE OF LESSONS
The lesson is the highest unit of classroom discourse, made up of a
series of transactions. If the pupils are responsive and co-operative, the
discourse unit ‘lesson’ may approximate closely to any plan the teacher
may have formulated for presenting his chosen topic. He may have decided,
for example, to start off by presenting some information, to continue by
discovering whether that information has been assimilated, and then to
get the pupils to use that information he has presented in their own
work. Alternatively a teacher might begin with a series of elicit exchanges,
attempting to move the pupils towards conclusions which will later be
elaborated in an informing transaction. However, a variety of things can
interfere in the working-out of the teacher’s plan in actual discourse.
The structure of the lesson is affected by such performance features as
the teacher’s own memory capacity for ordering speech, and, more importantly
the need to respond to unpredicted reactions, misunderstandings or
contributions on the part of the pupils.
We cannot specify any ordering of transactions into lessons. To do this
would require a much larger sample of classroom discourse. We might
find, for example, that there are characteristic lesson structures for different