Abstract

Based on an analysis of naturally occurring interactions between lecturers and students, this article investigates how university lectures and seminars are brought to a close through the collaborative work of lecturers and students. The analysis focuses on, first, the resources that lecturers and students have to accomplish this ; second, the active role that students play, who may engage in closing activities in ways that attempt to preserve the classroom order or in ways that are disruptive of it ; and third, the occasional subversive role that students may adopt, who may attempt to initiate closings in order to cut the lecture or seminar short.