Abstract This study qualitatively examines possible communicative functions of laughter in English-as-a-lingua-franca (ELF) interactional contexts. It particularly focuses on the sequences when students and their instructors deal with miscommunication in multilingual writing classrooms at a US university. Adapting perspectives from the multimodal turn, I conceive of laughter as part of the diverse multimodal interactional resources that speakers in ELF contexts can coordinate with speech and other nonverbal, embodied actions (e.g. smile and body orientation), but that are distinct resources from speech. Combining sequential, multimodal analysis with ethnographic information, the data analysis reveals that laughter can have various functions in ELF classroom interactions at miscommunication moments. Laughter often subtly signals nonunderstanding, which can then lead to interactional repair. Other possible functions of laughter include pre-empting miscommunication by marking a speaker’s problem related to vocabulary; teasing specific interlocutor(s); and building solidarity through shared laughter. Based on the analysis in this article, it can be argued that laughter may in fact be counterproductive in resolving misunderstanding in ELF classroom interactions due to its ambiguous, implicit nature. Findings suggest that ELF researchers benefit from developing a multimodal orientation by integrating nonverbal interactional resources into their discourse analyses in order to examine interlocutors’ complex communicative strategies in a way that meaningfully coordinates various semiotic modes such as laughter and smile. Such an approach would provide a more robust conceptualization of communicative competence or practice of interlocutors in ELF contexts.

中文翻译：

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笑声在英语作为通用语言的课堂互动中的功能：沟通不畅时言语和非言语互动资源的多模态合奏

摘要 本研究定性地检验了笑声在英语作为通用语言 (ELF) 互动环境中可能的交际功能。它特别关注学生和他们的教师在美国大学的多语言写作课堂中处理错误沟通的序列。从多模态转向调整观点，我将笑声视为多种多模态交互资源的一部分，ELF 语境中的说话者可以与语音和其他非语言、具身行为（例如微笑和身体定向）协调，但这与语音是不同的资源。将顺序、多模态分析与民族志信息相结合，数据分析表明，笑声在 ELF 课堂互动中在沟通不畅的时刻可以发挥各种功能。笑声常常巧妙地表示不理解，然后可以导致交互修复。笑声的其他可能功能包括通过标记说话者与词汇相关的问题来预先防止误传；戏弄特定的对话者；并通过共同的笑声建立团结。根据本文的分析，可以说笑声由于其模棱两可、含蓄的性质，实际上可能对解决 ELF 课堂互动中的误解起反作用。研究结果表明，ELF 研究人员通过将非语言互动资源整合到他们的话语分析中来开发多模态取向，以便以有意义地协调各种符号模式（如笑声和微笑）的方式检查对话者的复杂交际策略。