inadequate against the pedagogical quality frameworks discussed in the introduction. In other
words, are frameworks of effective classroom interaction, typically developed in, and resonant
with the reform objectives of, Anglophone countries, appropriate for the analysis of practice in
countries culturally distinct from the Anglophone? In this respect, Clarke (2013) argues that
the authors of such frameworks, typically ignoring issues of cultural relativity, assume that
what research has shown to be effective in one cultural context will have similar efficacy in
another. Secondly, irrespective of the appropriateness of such frameworks for analysing
mathematics classrooms, what matters most is understanding the extent to which teacher
behaviours predict student performance. Our data seem not only to confirm that the relation
between classroom interaction and student learning is complicated but lead us to ask: Are we,
the mathematics education research community, overestimating the influence of classroom
interaction on student learning?