Multimodal Resources in Students’ Explanations in Clil Interaction

In recent years, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has received much attention in linguistics and pedagogy. Based on a single case analysis, it will be shown how a detailed sequential analysis of video-recordings of naturally occurring classroom interaction enables us to understand how an explanation can be accomplished collaboratively by participants in a specific language-learning environment like CLIL. Drawing upon Conversation Analysis (CA), Interactional Linguistics (IL), and Multimodal Analysis, the questions addressed are a) what verbal, para-verbal, and non-verbal resources can be used by students to carry out the interactional activity of ‘explaining’? and b) how is the activity sequentially organized and collaboratively achieved by all participants? It will be shown that a sequential, multimodal approach is useful in revealing the subtle resources students deploy to construct meaning, in collaboration with the teacher and fellow students, in the course of an ‘explaining’. It is the cooperation between all participants which helps students accomplish the activity, where language and content problems are displayed through pauses, facial expression, pointing, and gesture, and resolved by fellow students through prompts and additional comments. Taking such findings into account, CLIL teachers should be encouraged to create opportunities for students to make use of various semiotic resources, allowing for the explainer and for the class to collaboratively negotiate subject-related content as well as linguistic form.