Multimodality in third turn repetitions: Evaluation, mitigation, and the pursuit of responses in a Korean-as-foreign-language classroom

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This conversation analysis (CA) study extends our understanding of the complexity of three turn instructional sequences by investigating the multimodal turn design of a teacher’s third turn repetitions (TTRs) and the actions accomplished in the third turn position as well as subsequent post-expansions. The videorecorded data are from an undergraduate Korean as a foreign language classroom at a large US university. The analysis reveals how a teacher coordinates resources such as language, prosody, gaze, gesture, body movements, and objects during and immediately following TTRs to mitigate negative evaluation, direct student attention to trouble sources, and intimate answers. The findings show that actions accomplished by talk, i.e. negative evaluation, and actions accomplished by multimodal resources like gaze, i.e. directing attention, may be undertaken simultaneously. The article contributes to understandings of teaching as complex and contingent interactional work by unpacking in fine-grained detail the moment-by-moment multimodal unfolding of pedagogical practice. We conclude by discussing implications for teacher preparation, namely the central role microanalysis of videorecorded classroom interaction should play.