Explanation as a joint activity: Co-constructing knowledge in second-language classrooms

This study presents an analysis of explanation as a joint activity. The study: (1) suggests for criteria as necessary to distinguish explanations from other linguistic activities (i.e., quality of the explanandum, goals of the explanations); (2) proposes a theoretical model capable of accounting for explanatory activities (i.e., those occurring in second language classrooms); (3) indicates pragmatic principles of the underlying a system (i.e., economy, delicacy, harmony and cooperative principles), and (4) identifies components, rules and constraints of explanatory sequences.