Learner Articulation as Interactional Achievement: Studying the Conversation of Gesture

Abstract

Learner articulation, studied under a variety of names (e.g., self-explanation, self-directed, and generative summarization), has been shown to contribute to new learning. Whereas prior research has focused on measuring the effects of various forms of articulation on learning outcomes, this article focuses on how such articulation may be accomplished, moment to moment and turn by turn, in learning settings. It documents some of the ways in which participants use their bodies and, in particular, their hands while displaying what they know. It presents fine-grained analyses of 3 videotaped fragments of naturally occurring interaction among medical teachers and students participating in tutorial meetings in a problem-based learning curriculum. Within these 3 exhibits evidence was found of recipient design with regard to gesture production and recipient response with reference to its performance. Also found was evidence of gesture reuse as a mechanism for cohesion across turns at talk and as a display of mutual understanding. This article represents a preliminary step toward a more general program of research focusing on sense-making practices in learning settings. Extending an understanding of how such practices are accomplished interactionally is a crucial step toward eventually being able to give an adequate account of what makes any exemplary form of instruction effective.