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Functions of laughter in English-as-a-lingua-franca classroom interactions: a multimodal ensemble of verbal and nonverbal interactional resources at miscommunication moments

教室内 ELF インタラクションにおける笑いの機能:ミス・コミュニケーション状況で利用される言語と非言語のマルチモダリティの全体的効果
  • Yumi Matsumoto

    Yumi Matsumoto is Assistant Professor in the Educational Linguistics Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published in TESOL Quarterly, the Modern Language Journal, Language Learning, Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Teacher Development. Her research interests include English as a lingua franca, multimodal interactional analysis, laughter and humor construction, and gesture and L2 learning and development.

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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.

論文概要

本研究では、共通語としての英語(ELF)の使用状況で、「笑い」がいかに機能するかを質的に考察する。特に米国の大学のライティングの授業で、マルチリンガルの学生と教師がミス・コミュニケーションに対応している際の笑いの機能に焦点を当てる。マルチモーダル・ターン が示す観点を本研究に応用し、笑いをインタラクションに利用される様々なマルチモダリティ効果の一部と捉える。そして、笑いを言語とは異なった機能を果たすものと捉え、ELF が使用されている状況で、会話者が言語、非言語、身体に関わる行動(笑みや姿勢など)を、いかに笑いと統合させるのかを明らかにする。当考察では、会話分析及びマルチモーダルの技法とエスノグラフィーから得られた知見を組み合わせて、笑いがミス・コミュニケーションの場で果たす様々な機能を示す。笑いは、多くの場合、話者を理解するのが難しいことを微妙なニュアンスで伝え、結果的に相互行為の修復につながる。考察の結果、笑いで話者が語彙の使用に関して問題を抱えているのを先に示すことにより、ミス・コミュニケーションを阻止したり、笑いで特定の会話者をからかったり、あるいは笑いを共有することで連帯感を高めたりすることが明らかになった。さらに、笑いはその曖昧で暗示的な性質のため、ELF が使用される教室内インタラクションにおいて、ミス・コミュニケーションを解決する上で逆効果の場合もあることがわかった。本研究結果は、話者が多様な記号論的モード(例えば笑いや笑み)を巧みに統合させて意味形成する複雑なコミュニケーション・ストラテジーを精査する上では、ELF 研究者がマルチモーダルの方向性の研究を展開させていく必要性を示唆している。そのようなマルチモーダルの研究アプローチは ELF インタラクションにおける会話者のコミュニケーション能力、あるいはコミュニケーション実践に関して、従来よりも堅固な概念を与えてくれるだろう。

About the author

Yumi Matsumoto

Yumi Matsumoto is Assistant Professor in the Educational Linguistics Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published in TESOL Quarterly, the Modern Language Journal, Language Learning, Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Teacher Development. Her research interests include English as a lingua franca, multimodal interactional analysis, laughter and humor construction, and gesture and L2 learning and development.

Appendix

A transcription conventions

The audio- and video-recorded materials were transcribed according to the following notation system, whose core was originally developed by Gail Jefferson (1984b) for the analytic research of conversation.

[

overlapping utterances (including co-laughing, too)

=

latched utterance

(.)

micro-pause

(2.0)

timed (e.g. 2-second) pause

wo:

extended sound or syllable

word.

falling intonation

word,

continuing intonation

word?

rising intonation

word!

animated intonation

↑word

upstep in pitch

>word<

speech at a pace quicker than the surrounding talk

$

smile voice

Yeah

emphasis

◦Um◦

speech quieter than the surrounding talk

((walks toward))

non-vocal action that is not synchronized with verbal, details of conversational scene

{raises his arm}

non-vocal action that is synchronized with speech

RH

right hand

LH

left hand

BH

both hands

B sequence before Excerpt (2)

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Published Online: 2018-08-29
Published in Print: 2018-08-28

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