There are not many studies involving teacher-student communication processes in classrooms of rural and urban contexts. The aim of this research is to know the relationship between conversational structures that mediate autonomous learning and teachers' ocular activity in elementary education first grade classrooms in different socio-educational contexts of Chile. The method used is descriptive and consisted in recording teacher-student conversations in classes given by 15 teachers from schools located in urban and rural contexts. The records were analyzed through six conversational structures called 'mediation exchanges' (IcM): expository, regulatory, co-formed, explanatory, cooperative and collaborative. In the IcM the teacher's eye movement was measured in the face of the students by using eye tracking technology. The results indicate significant differences in the time teachers spend looking at the students in the various IcM categories. The post hoc analysis shows that these differences are expressed between the explanatory IcM and the other five kinds of IcM. These differences remain regardless the urban/rural context of the school.