Recurring and shared gestures in the L2 classroom: Resources for teaching and learning
-
Søren Wind Eskildsen
and
Johannes Wagner
Abstract
This paper reports on one use of gestures in the acquisition of a second language. The data are drawn from the MAELC database at Portland State University, an audio-visual corpus consisting of 4,000 hours of recordings of American English L2 classroom interaction collected over several years. These data enable us to trace processes of L2 learning and development in the same individuals over time. This pilot study forms part of a larger on-going project investigating embodied L2 construction learning and investigates how return gestures (with which recipients display on-going understanding of the embodied activities of a speaker) create an ad hoc package of gesture and talk. We argue that these packages of return gestures and talk are born out of trouble solving situations. They can form a resource for future solutions of related trouble until they eventually disappear from use. In the paper we analyse three cases. In the first one we show in detail how ad hoc item + gesture units are established in trouble talk. In the two other cases, we show how such units are deployed at a later date in the service of sense-making and remembering.
Abstrakt
Artiklen undersøger én rolle som gestik kan spille i andetsprogstilegnelsen. Det empiriske materiale stammer fra MAELC databasen ved Portland State University. Det er et arkiv med 4,000 timers videooptagelser af engelskundervisning for migranter samlet over flere år. Ved hjælp af optagelserne kan man følge andetsprogslæringsprocesser hos de samme individer over tid. I dette pilotstudie, som er en del af et større projekt som aktuelt undersøger embodied L2 construction learning, viser vi hvordan returgestik (dvs. lytterens gentagelse af en talers gestik som indikator for forståelse) skaber en ad hoc pakke af gestik og sproglig formulering. Vi argumenterer at forbindelsen mellem returgestik og sproglige formuleringer opstår i problemsituationer, hvor de talende skal løse sproglige problemer, og kan genbruges i tilsvarende senere problemsituationer. I artiklen undersøger vi tre cases. I den første viser vi hvordan sådanne ad hoc gestik-sprog enheder opstår. I de to andre cases viser vi hvordan sådanne enheder senere kan bruges for at skabe forståelse og for at huske sproglige formuleringer.
Zusammenfassung
Der Artikel untersucht eine der Aufgaben die Gesten im Prozess des Spracherwerbs übernehmen können. Die Daten stammen aus dem MAELC Korpus, einer großen Datenbank an der Portland State University. In dem Korpus sind 4.000 Stunden Videoaufzeichnungen von mehreren Jahren Englischunterricht für Einwanderer zugänglich. Der Korpus erlaubt detaillierte Studien der Sprachentwicklung einzelner Personen über Zeit. Unsere Pilotstudie untersucht, wie return Gestik (mit der Hörer das Verstehen von problematischen Äußerungen indizieren) eine ad hoc Verbindung von Gestus und sprachlicher Äußerung kreieren. Wir argumentieren anhand der Daten, dass diese Verbindungen in Situationen mit sprachlichen Problemen entstehen. Sie können dann in späteren Interaktionen eine Ressource für entsprechende Problemlösungen bilden. In dem Artikel untersuchen wir drei Beispiele. Im ersten zeigen wir im Detail, wie solche ad hoc Verbindungen geschaffen werden. Die beiden anderen Beispiele demonstrieren, wie dieses Verbindungen zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt für Verstehens- und Erinnerungsprozesse relevant gemacht werden.
Resumen
Este artículo trata sobre uno de los usos de los gestos en la adquisición de una segunda lengua. Los datos provienen de la base de datos MAELC de la Universidad del Estado de Portland, un corpus audio-visual que consta de 4000 horas de grabaciones de interacción en el aula a lo largo de varios años. Estos datos nos permiten rastrear los procesos de aprendizaje y desarrollo de una segunda lengua en un mismo individuo a lo largo del tiempo. Este estudio piloto forma parte de un proyecto mayor que investiga el aprendizaje corporeizado de las construcciones de una segunda lengua, y examina cómo los gestos de retorno (con los que los oyentes muestran su continuo entendimiento durante la conversación) crean paquetes ad hoc de gesto y habla. Argumentamos que estos paquetes de gestos y habla surgen en situaciones problemáticas en las que los hablantes tienen que solucionar problemas lingüísticos, y pueden ser utilizados de nuevo en situaciones similares hasta que su uso deje de ser necesario. En este artículo analizamos los datos de un estudiante de lenguas en tres momentos de su aprendizaje. En el primero mostramos en detalle cómo se establecen de manera ad hoc las unidades de gesto y habla. En los otros dos casos mostramos cómo estas unidades son utilizadas más tarde para entablar entendimiento y para recordar formulaciones lingüísticas.
About the authors
We are indebted to Maurice Nevile, John Hellermann, Dennis Day and Gale Stam for comments on a previous version of this paper. Of course, all points of error and missing clarity are ours. We also thank VELUX for partial funding of this research.
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TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS
CAR:, TEA:Participants
wei⌈rd wordBeginning and end of overlapping talk
⌊yeah ⌋
(1.0) Pause/gap in seconds and tenth of seconds
(.) Micro pause (< 0.2 seconds)
word Prosodic emphasis
wo:rd Prolongation of preceding sound
↘,↗,→ falling, rising and level intonation
WORD Loud volume
owordo Softer than surrounding talk
§word§ Slower than surrounding talk
wo- Cut-off (e.g., glottal stop)
(word) Uncertainty about transcription
( ) Non-audible speech
.hhh Hearable in-breath
hhh Out-breath
hhe possible laughter syllable
© 2013 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Editorial
- On the applicability of empirical findings
- A dynamic usage-based approach to Communicative Language Teaching
- Language policies and practices across the Baltic: processes, challenges and prospects
- Where policy doesn’t meet life-world practice – the difficulty of creating the multilingual European
- A typologically based view on relativisation in English as a European lingua franca
- Recurring and shared gestures in the L2 classroom: Resources for teaching and learning
- AFinLA: The Finnish Association of Applied Linguistics
- Language Rich Europe
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Editorial
- On the applicability of empirical findings
- A dynamic usage-based approach to Communicative Language Teaching
- Language policies and practices across the Baltic: processes, challenges and prospects
- Where policy doesn’t meet life-world practice – the difficulty of creating the multilingual European
- A typologically based view on relativisation in English as a European lingua franca
- Recurring and shared gestures in the L2 classroom: Resources for teaching and learning
- AFinLA: The Finnish Association of Applied Linguistics
- Language Rich Europe
