Kinetically-held questions: Representational gesture post-stroke holds in whole-class interactions in STEM

Abstract

Teachers use “kinetically-held” questions by freezing representational gestures and holding them during Initiation-Response-Evaluation/Feedback (IRE/F) sequences in whole-class interactions. Drawing on Kendon's gesture studies and ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, we illustrate the role representational gesture post-stroke holds can play in (1) typical 3-part IRE/F sequences, (2) topically related sets of IRE/F sequences, and (3) expanded sets of reformulated IRE/F sequences. Our analysis demonstrates how held representational gestures in IRE/F sequences contribute to both (a) organizing multiparty participation and (b) providing durable, visuospatial support for the co-construction of classroom knowledge. This study contributes to a better understanding of the understudied phenomenon of how teachers use the timing and temporality of representational gestures in STEM classroom interactions.