This article reports on an international study of the teaching of undergraduatemathematics in seven countries. Informed by rhetorical genre theory, activity
theory, and the notion of Communities of Practice, this study explores a pedagogical genre at play in university mathematics lecture classrooms. The genre is
mediational in that it is a tool employed in the activity of teaching. The data
consist of audio/video-recorded lectures, observational notes, semistructured
interviews, and written artifacts collected from 50 participants who
differed in linguistic, cultural, and educational backgrounds; teaching experience;
and languages of instruction. The study suggests that chalk talk, namely,
writing out a mathematical narrative on the board while talking aloud, is
the central pedagogical genre of the undergraduate mathematics lecture
classroom. Pervasive pedagogical genres, like chalk talk, which develop within
global disciplinary communities of practice, appear to override local differences
across contexts of instruction. Better understanding these genres may
lead to new insights regarding academic literacies and teaching.