This book makes a significant contribution to deepening understanding of behaviours and interactions within the one-to-one instrumental lesson. Building on previous work undertaken by the author (Burwell, Reference BURWELL2005, Reference BURWELL2006) and with colleagues (Young et al., Reference YOUNG, BURWELL and PICKUP2003; Burwell et al., Reference BURWELL, YOUNG, PICKUP and Hunter2004), Burwell's analyses of collaborative activities within the lesson are contextualised within detailed accounts of the epistemology of instrumental teaching and learning, which discuss both the philosophical and practical perspectives concerning skill and apprenticeship. These are followed by in-depth examination of literature relating to the instrumental lesson, and by substantial analyses of two instrumental lessons.

After an introductory chapter positioning the instrumental teacher as reflective practitioner and introducing the author and the research aims, Chapter 2 explores the epistemology of instrumental teaching and learning, setting the scene for the research with comprehensive discussions of skill and apprenticeship. Burwell acknowledges the difficulties in verbalising skill, focusing on components such as ‘talent’, ‘sense’ and ‘feel’ which make up the ‘complex and intriguing phenomenon’ (p. 12) before moving through discussions of ‘knowing how and knowing that’, tacit and explicit knowledge, levels of skill, reflection in action, situated learning and scaffolding. These serve to situate discussion of teaching and learning within a sociocultural framework, in which the difficulties of empirical research are also noted. This substantial discussion is followed by a similarly detailed investigation of literature relating to apprenticeship. While acknowledging the importance of practitioner articulation of the processes of learning (which may, as Burwell suggests, also be a means of distinguishing between essential skills required for the domains of performance and those required for teaching), the concept of cognitive apprenticeship (Collins et al., Reference COLLINS, BROWN, NEWMAN and Resnick1989), in which a teacher deliberately extrapolates aspects of his/her thinking in order to model these processes to the student, could have also provided a counterpart to the emphasis on modelling strategies discussed in performance literature. Furthermore, providing index references to all the literature cited in the text (not just the most cited authors) would have been extremely useful for subsequent readers.

Chapters 3 and 4 take a detailed look at the instrumental lesson, summarising and contextualising relevant literature and exploring frameworks for the one-to-one lesson. In Chapter 3 the literature review is presented in three main areas, focusing on studies exploring the distinction between modelling and verbal behaviour; studies focusing on verbal behaviour; and those focusing on the personal, interpersonal and social attributes of participants. The inclusion of contrasting examples of teacher–student dialogue from Burwell's earlier research offers reminders that classifying and coding lesson activities remain a demanding and difficult task, and that the highly specific and individual nature of instrumental teaching will always be subject to the particular participants, their personalities and preferences. One of the strengths of this book is its ability to present highly detailed information clearly, drawing the reader in, and at the same time providing material which informs the practitioner and invites further consideration of the subject. This is particularly aided through Burwell's comments in response to other studies, where her own professional teaching experience adds to the reader's understanding.

Chapter 5 follows the introduction to the research setting given at the end of Chapter 4 to present the design for the research, the theoretical perspectives involved and the methods used (case study research involving data relating to two instrumental lessons collected through video observation and participant interviews). While the limitations of the study are addressed, Burwell's data might have been more representative had she used more than one camera to record the individual instrumental lessons. Furthermore, had the author viewed the filmed data before interviewing the participants, interviews could have been tailored to investigate the specific details of the individual lessons rather than providing answers to what may have been somewhat generic questions (it would have been useful to include the interview schedule as an appendix). Nevertheless, the interview data provide informative support to the detailed analyses of the two lessons in Chapters 6 and 7. Here, background to the participants is provided before detailed information is presented concerning the spatial, performance and verbal behaviours occurring in each lesson. These reveal considerable contrasts between the behaviours of both teacher and students in each lesson, although in some instances the statistical data suggest more similarities than the qualitative data actually support. An example concerns the number of instances of light-hearted behaviour in the second lesson compared with none in the first lesson; however, these seem indicative of discord and anxiety rather than supporting the ‘relaxed concentration’ of the first lesson. Another example concerns the number of speech acts offered by the two students; while similar in length, these show considerable differences in effect: those of the first student support the teacher's generation of information while those of the second student display far fewer instances of back-channelling and pre-conceived questions. These have an effect on the behaviour of the teacher, who asks twice as many questions to the second student. Therefore, the author invites the reader to consider who is controlling learning – the teacher, or the student? Similar questions are readily generated throughout these chapters in response to the case studies – for instance, how do students learn to behave in lessons? How might one student learn to be verbally pro-active, seeking information and feedback? Why might another student possess a negative self-view as a learner? How might a lesson be structured to match an ideal psychological profile?

While providing material of great value to the scholar and the practitioner-researcher, this book opens up a number of areas yet to benefit from research, particularly the area of spatial behaviour within the one-to-one lesson. Furthermore, if a goal of student development is now viewed as developing independent and reflective practitioners rather than focusing more narrowly on excellence in performance, there remains the need to ask how learning is undertaken in the one-to-one lesson and to explore what kind of learning occurs. The author concludes that these areas must be addressed in relation to other questions concerning institutional aims and learning outcomes and issues of responsibility, thereby creating a contextual and holistic platform for research. The scholarship presented in this book makes a significant contribution to furthering understanding of practice in this area.