Teachers’ Eyebrow and Head Movements and Repeats as Other-Initiations of Repair in Second-Language Classrooms

This study investigates how teachers use language and bodily-visual practices, and particularly facial gestures, to initiate repair of problems in students’ utterances in Chinese as a Second Language classroom interactions. We identify two multimodal practices used by teachers for other-initiation o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xiaoyun Wang, Xiaoting Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Copenhagen 2024-02-01
Series:Social Interaction
Subjects:
Online Access:https://tidsskrift.dk/socialinteraction/article/view/142895
Description
Summary:This study investigates how teachers use language and bodily-visual practices, and particularly facial gestures, to initiate repair of problems in students’ utterances in Chinese as a Second Language classroom interactions. We identify two multimodal practices used by teachers for other-initiation of repair. First, teachers use a “visual repair initiator” of eyebrow raises and head tilts to address apparent language errors in students’ utterances without specifying the trouble-source. Second, teachers use full or partial repeats with marked prosody and eyebrow raises to display problems with accepting a student’s response. We argue that the two practices are deployed to deal with different types of problems in students’ utterances.
ISSN:2446-3620