Ear cupping in EFL classroom interaction: an embodied means of pursuing students’ response

Cheikhna Amar

doi:10.1515/text-2020-0127

Article

Ear cupping in EFL classroom interaction: an embodied means of pursuing students’ response

Cheikhna Amar
Cheikhna Amar is a Lecturer at Tokyo Kasei University. He received his PhD in Applied Linguistics from Kobe University. In his dissertation, he used conversation analysis methods to examine teacher–student interaction in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms in Japan. The main focus of his research is on teachers’ and students’ interactional practices. His recent work appeared in Classroom Discourse Journal.

Published/Copyright: February 23, 2022

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From the journal Text & Talk Volume 42 Issue 6

Abstract

This paper describes one of the embodied resources language teachers use to pursue a response from students: placing one hand behind the ear in an Ear Cupping (EC) gesture. The data analyzed are taken from over 20 h of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom interaction video-recorded at a Japanese university. The paper explores how teachers use EC to pursue a response in cases when a Second-Pair Part (SPP) contribution from the student(s) is sequentially and temporally delayed, missing or inapposite. The findings suggest that the use of the EC gesture to pursue a response demonstrates the teachers’ orientation toward a normative understanding that a question posed within the classroom should be answered, even when a specific respondent has not been nominated. The analysis therefore reveals that the gesture constitutes an embodied means of monitoring intersubjectivity and increasing engagement in large groups of language learners.

Keywords: classroom interaction; conversation analysis; ear cupping; embodied practices; English as foreign language; pursuing response

Corresponding author: Cheikhna Amar, Department of English Communication, Tokyo Kasei University, 1-18-1 Kaga, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan, E-mail: ouldbebaye1@gmail.com

About the author

Cheikhna Amar

Cheikhna Amar is a Lecturer at Tokyo Kasei University. He received his PhD in Applied Linguistics from Kobe University. In his dissertation, he used conversation analysis methods to examine teacher–student interaction in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms in Japan. The main focus of his research is on teachers’ and students’ interactional practices. His recent work appeared in Classroom Discourse Journal.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor Dr. Tim Greer for his insights and comments on earlier versions of this paper. I also thank the anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments which helped improve the quality of the analysis. Any remaining errors are mine. I would like to thank Professor Watanabe Masahito for granting me permission to record the data. I am also indebted to all the participant teachers and students who agreed to take part in the study. Their cooperation is highly appreciated.

Appendix

Transcription conventions

The transcripts follow standard Jeffersonian conventions (Jefferson 2004) with embodied elements developed by Mondada (2014). The embodied elements are positioned in a series of tiers relative to the talk and rendered in gray.

|: Descriptions of embodied actions are delimited between vertical lines
---->: the action described continues across subsequent lines
,,,,,: action’s retraction
∼∼∼∼: the action moves or transforms in some way
TOM: the current speaker is identified with capital letters
?: rising intonation
.: falling intonation
,: slightly rising intonation
:: lengthened speech
↑↓: High or low pitch
(.): a short pause
Underline: stressed syllable
CAPITALS: louder volume
> <: fast talk
(word): dubious hearings

Participants enacting an embodied action are identified relative to the talk by their initial in lower case in another tier along with one of the following codes for the action.

bh: both hands
rh: right hand
lh: left hand
hd: head
px: proximity
gs: gesture
gz: gaze

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Received: 2020-07-02

Accepted: 2022-02-10

Published Online: 2022-02-23

Published in Print: 2022-11-25

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0127

Keywords for this article

classroom interaction; conversation analysis; ear cupping; embodied practices; English as foreign language; pursuing response