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The visual signature of non-understanding: A systematic replication of McDonough, Trofimovich, Lu, and Abashidze (2019)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2021

Kim McDonough Open the ORCID record for Kim McDonough [Opens in a new window] ,
Rachael Lindberg Open the ORCID record for Rachael Lindberg [Opens in a new window] ,
Pavel Trofimovich Open the ORCID record for Pavel Trofimovich [Opens in a new window]  and
Oguzhan Tekin Open the ORCID record for Oguzhan Tekin [Opens in a new window]
Kim McDonough*
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Rachael Lindberg
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Pavel Trofimovich
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Oguzhan Tekin
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: kim.mcdonough@concordia.ca
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Abstract

This replication study seeks to extend the generalizability of an exploratory study (McDonough et al., 2019) that identified holds (i.e., temporary cessation of dynamic movement by the listener) as a reliable visual cue of non-understanding. Conversations between second language (L2) English speakers in the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca Interaction (CELFI; McDonough & Trofimovich, 2019) with non-understanding episodes (e.g., pardon?, what?, sorry?) were sampled and compared with understanding episodes (i.e., follow-up questions). External raters (N = 90) assessed the listener's comprehension under three rating conditions: +face/+voice, −face/+voice, and +face/−voice. The association between non-understanding and holds in McDonough et al. (2019) was confirmed. Although raters distinguished reliably between understanding and non-understanding episodes, they were not sensitive to facial expressions when judging listener comprehension. The initial and replication findings suggest that holds remain a promising visual signature of non-understanding that can be explored in future theoretically- and pedagogically-oriented contexts.

Type
Replication Research
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 113 - 127
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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