Cover not available
Article published In:
Gesture
Vol. 20:1 (2021) ► pp.30–62

Handling language

How future language teachers adapt their gestures to their interlocutor

| Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Parole et Langage (CNRS)
| National Louis University
| Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Parole et Langage (CNRS)

This paper addresses the question of how speakers adapt their gestures according to their interlocutor’s proficiency level in the language of the interaction especially in the specific context of foreign language teaching. We know that speakers make changes in their speech when addressing a non-native speaker, called Foreigner Talk (Ferguson, 1975) to make their speech more comprehensible. However, whether and how gestures are also modified along with speech has hardly been addressed in the literature. In this study, we examined the speech and gesture of future teachers of French in a word explanation task to see what types of adjustments they made when explaining a word to a native speaker and a non-native speaker. We had ten future teachers of French explain the same 12 words to a native and a non-native speaker of French and compared the explanations. We found that the future teachers produced significantly more gestures, significantly longer gestures in duration, significantly more illustrative (iconic and deictic) gestures, and significantly larger gestures when addressing a non-native interlocutor. These results show that native speakers make not only speech adjustments but also gesture adjustments in addressing non-native speakers.

Keywords: gestural accommodation, foreigner talk, gesture, teachers’ gestures, gesture space
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Communication Accommodation Theory
  • Foreigner talk
  • Teacher talk, pedagogical intent and pedagogical gestures
    • Current study
    • Hypotheses
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Procedure
    • Data
    • Coding
    • Analysis: Software and method
  • Results
    • Interaction, speaking and gesturing time spans
    • Gesture rate
    • Mean duration of gestures
    • Gesture dimension
    • Gesture space
    • Qualitative results
      • Same speech, different gestures
      • Noticeable changes in speech and gesture
    • Summary
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.19031.tel
References
Adams, T. W.
(1998) Gesture in foreigner talk. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
Allen, L.
(2000) Nonverbal accommodations in foreign language teacher talk. Applied Language Learning, 11 (1), 155–176.Google Scholar
Azaoui, B.
(2016) Mise en abyme des interactions didactiques. Recherches en didactique des langues et des cultures, 13 (1). [URL] DOI logo
Bavelas, J., Chovil, N., Coates, L., & Roe, L.
(1995) Gestures specialized for dialogue. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 211, 394–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beebe, L. M. & Giles, H.
(1984) Speech-accommodation theories: A discussion in terms of second-language acquisition. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 461, 5–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brennan, S. E. & Hanna, J. E.
(2009) Partner-specific adaptation in dialogue. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11, 274–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. H. & Krych, M. A.
(2004) Speaking while monitoring addressees for understanding. Journal of Memory and Language, 501, 62–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe
(2001) Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge & Strasbourg: Cambridge University Press & Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Dahl, T. I. & Ludvigsen, S.
(2014) How I see what you’re saying: The role of gestures in native and foreign language listening comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 98 (3), 813–833. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Derwing, T. M.
(1987) Individual differences in foreigner talk: Factors in successful communication with non-native speakers. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Alberta.
Early, M. M.
(1985) Input and interaction in content classrooms: Foreigner-talk and teacher talk in classroom discourse. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
Ferguson, C.
(1975) Toward a characterization of English foreigner talk. Anthropological Linguistics, 171, 1–14.Google Scholar
Galati, A. & Brennan, S. E.
(2013) Speakers adapt gestures to addressees’ knowledge: Implications for models of co-speech gesture. Language and Cognitive Processes, 291, 435–451. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. M. & Varonis, E. M.
(1985) Variation in native speaker speech modification to non-native speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7 (1), 37–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gerwing, J. & Bavelas, J.
(2004) Linguistic influences on gesture’s form. Gesture, 4 (2), 157–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, I.
(1991) Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In H. Giles, N. Coupland, & I. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 1–65). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gullberg, M. & Holmqvist, K.
(1999) Keeping an eye on gestures: Visual perception of gestures in face-to-face communication. Pragmatics & Cognition, 71, 35–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hallet, R. W.
(2000) Simplified input: An investigation of foreigner talk/teacher talk on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Carolina.
Hauge, E.
(1998) Gesture in the EFL class: an aid to communication or a source of confusion? In D. Killick & M. Parry (Eds.), Cross-cultural capability – the why, the ways and the means: New theories and methodologies in language education. Proceedings of the conference at Leeds Metropolitan University December 1997 (pp. 271–280). Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University, Centre for Language Studies.Google Scholar
Hoetjes, M., Krahmer, E., & Swerts, M.
(2015) On what happens in gesture when communication is unsuccessful. Speech Communication, 721, 160–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoetjes, M., Koolen, R., Goudbeek, M., Krahmer, E., & Swerts, M.
(2015) Reduction in gesture during the production of repeated references. Journal of Memory and Language, 79–801, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holler, J. & Stevens, R.
(2007) The effect of common ground on how speakers use gesture and speech to represent size information. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 26 (1), 4–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holler, J. & Wilkin, K.
(2009) Communicating common ground: How mutually shared knowledge influences speech and gesture in a narrative task. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24 (2), 267–289. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Co-speech gesture mimicry in the process of collaborative referring during face-to-face dialogue. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 35 (2), 133–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holler, J., Shovelton, H., & Beattie, J.
(2009) Do iconic hand gestures really contribute to the communication of semantic information in a face-to-face context? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 331, 73–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, N. & Garnham, A.
(2007) The role of conversational hand gestures in a narrative task. Journal of Memory and Language, 561, 291–303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kang, S., Hallman, G. L., Son, L. K., & Black, J. B.
(2013) The different benefits from different gestures in understanding a concept. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 221, 825–837. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., Barr, D. J., Church, R. B., & Lynch, K.
(1999) Offering a hand to pragmatic understanding: The role of speech and gesture in comprehension and memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 401, 577–592. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A.
(2004) Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kimbara, I.
(2006) On gestural mimicry. Gesture, 6 (1), 39–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lazaraton, A.
(2004) Gestures and speech in the vocabulary explanations of one ESL teacher: A microanalytic inquiry. Language Learning, 54 (1), 79–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H.
(1981) Questions in foreigner talk discourse. Language Learning, 31 (1), 137–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D.
(1992) Hand and mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(2005) Gesture and thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) How language began: Gesture and speech in human evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morris, D., Collet, P., Marsh, P., & O’Shaughnessy, M.
(1979) Gestures: Their origins and distribution. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Özyürek, A.
(2002) Do speakers design their cospeech gestures for their addressees? The effects of addressee location on representational gestures. Journal of Memory and Language, 461, 688–704. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
R Development Core Team
(2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0. URL [URL]
Ravid, D., Olshtain, E., & Ze’elon, R.
(2003) Gradeschoolers’ linguistic and pragmatic speech adaptation to native and non-native interlocution. Journal of Pragmatics, 351, 71–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sime, D.
(2006) What do learners make of teachers’ gestures in the language classroom? International Review of Applied Linguistics (IRAL), 441, 211–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sloetjes, H. & Wittenburg, P.
(2008) Annotation by category – ELAN and ISO DCR. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2008) (pp. 816–820). Paris: ELRA.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., van Eeden, R., & Muysken, P.
(1981) The interactional origins of foreigner talk: municipal employees and foreigner worker. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 281, 81–91. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stam, G.
(2010) Can a L2 speaker’s patterns of thinking for speaking change? In Z. Han & T. Cadierno (Eds.), Linguistic relativity in SLA: Thinking for speaking (pp. 59–83). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) Second language acquisition and gesture. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) Gesture as a window onto conceptualization in multiple tasks: Implications for second language teaching. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association (GCLA), 41, 289–314. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stam, G. & McCafferty, S. G.
(2008) Gesture studies and second language acquisition: A review. In S. McCafferty & G. Stam (Eds.), Gesture: Second language acquisition and classroom research (pp. 3–24). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stam, G. & Tellier, M.
(2017) The sound of silence: The functions of gestures in pauses in native and non-native interaction. In R. B. Church, M. W. Alibali, & S. D. Kelly (Eds.), Why gesture? How the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating (pp. 353–377). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sueyoshi, A. & Hardison, D. M.
(2005) The role of gestures and facial cues in second language listening comprehension. Language Learning, 55 (4), 661–699. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tabensky, A.
(2008) Expository discourse in a second language classroom: How learners use gesture. In S. G. McCafferty & G. Stam (Eds.), Gesture: Second language acquisition and classroom research (pp. 298–320). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tellier, M.
(2008) Dire avec des gestes. Le Français dans le monde, recherche et application, 441, 40–50.Google Scholar
Tellier, M. & Stam, G.
(2012) Stratégies verbales et gestuelles dans l’explication lexicale d’un verbe d’action. In V. Rivière (Ed.), Spécificités et diversité des interactions didactiques (pp. 357–374). Paris: Riveneuve éditions.Google Scholar
Tellier, M., Michel, L., & Wolff, L.
(2014) Variations inter et intra-individuelles de la gestuelle chez l’enseignante de maternelle. In M. Tellier & L. Cadet (Eds.), Le corps et la voix de l’enseignant: théorie et pratique (pp. 127–140). Paris: Éditions Maison des Langues.Google Scholar
Tellier, M., Stam, G., & Bigi, B.
(2013) Gesturing while pausing in conversation: Self-oriented or Partner-oriented? In Proceedings of TIGER – Tilburg Gesture Research Meeting Conference. [URL]
Tellier, M., Stam, G., & Ghio, A.
(2018) “Tout ça c’est abstrait”: Comment le degré d’abstraction d’un mot expliqué affecte-t-il la parole multimodale? In Y. Meynadier & A. Ghio (Eds.), Actes des 32e Journées d’Etudes sur la Parole (JEP), Aix en Provence, 4 au 8 juin 2018. [URL]. DOI logo
Ulichny, P.
(1979) Adult foreigner talk: Input language to L2 learners. Studi Italiani di Linguistica teorica ed applicata, 81, 187–200.Google Scholar
Wong-Fillmore, L.
(1985) When does teacher talk work as input. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 17–50). Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
Zuengler, J.
(1991) Accommodation in native-nonnative interactions: Going beyond the “what” to the “why” in second language research. In H. Giles, N. Coupland, & J. Coupland (Eds.), The context of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 223–244). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar