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Native or non-native interlocutor: How the gestures of future language teachers differ| old_uid | 13165 |
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| title | Native or non-native interlocutor: How the gestures of future language teachers differ |
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| start_date | 2013/12/09 |
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| schedule | 10h-12h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | Speakers adapt their speech to their interlocutors, and when they talk to non-native speakers: they tend to engage in foreigner talk (Ferguson, 1975). They use more basic vocabulary, shorter sentences, and present tense. They articulate more, speak more slowly, talk more loudly, and use gestures.
Within second language acquisition research, the adjustments that speakers make in addressing non-native speakers (Wesche & Ready, 1985) and their effectiveness in facilitating acquisition (Long, 1980) have been explored. However, gesture in foreigner talk has only been examined by Adams (1998). Adams showed that gesture production and the types of gestures speakers use are also affected by the presence of non-native interlocutors. However, he found only significant differences for deictic gestures in the two conditions. He also found that the same amount of metaphorics and emblems was used in both conditions. These results showed that even if native speakers gestured more to help their interlocutors understand them, they did not use relevant gestures.
Foreign language teachers tend to gesture a lot in a classroom, (Tellier, 2008; Sime, 2008). These 'teaching gestures' capture attention and make the lesson more dynamic. They support comprehension and are relevant for learners' memorization processes.
Several aspects of teaching gestures are still not known. Are teaching gestures specific? Are future teachers aware of their gestures before they undergo teacher training? Do they naturally adjust their gestures when performing the same task with native or non-native speakers?
This talk will discuss a study Gale Stam and Marion Tellier (Tellier & Stam, 2010, 2012; Tellier, Stam & Bigi, 2013) conducted to explore how the interlocutor affects the gestures of future French foreign language teachers when they engage in a vocabulary explanation task with native and non-native speakers of French. Results show that future language teachers tend to use gestures that are more iconic, last longer, and occupy a larger gesture space when speaking to non-native speakers. |
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| responsibles | Massa |
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