The use of material resources in vocabulary explanations: a conversation analytic inquiry

Abstract Recent studies have examined the interactional management of verbal and non-verbal vocabulary explanations in second language (L2) classrooms. However, the use of material resources in vocabulary explanations has not been fully investigated yet. Based on a corpus of fourteen class-hours of (50-min each) video recordings of an L2 Oral Communication classroom at a higher education setting in Turkey, this study explores how material resources are employed in vocabulary explanation sequences in combination with talk and gestures. Using the micro-analytic lens of multimodal Conversation Analysis (CA) for the examination of the detailed transcriptions of vocabulary explanation sequences with material resources, three different patterns were identified: (1) gesture + material resources; (2) talk + gesture + material resources; and (3) scene enactment + material resources. The findings of this study contribute to classroom interaction research, more specifically to studies on vocabulary teaching, by providing a micro-analytic account of how material resources are employed in vocabulary explanations.