Talk and Embodied Conduct in Word Searches in Video-Mediated Interactions

Abstract

This paper concerns ways L2 speakers utilize embodied practices when engaged in word searches in interactions via video-mediated interaction. Examining the role of embodiment in word search practices in semi-pedagogical conversations between native German speakers and German language learners, we demonstrate how interlocutors use the gesture of an upward extended index finger to manage extended word searches in the ongoing production of the turn. The gesture plus the request to wait (ein moment/”one moment”) are used to indicate that the turn is temporarily put on hold, during which the L2 speaker orients to the screen to complete the ongoing word search. In addition, our paper scrutinizes how L2 speakers’ embodied practices emerge in the context of video-mediated interaction.