The Interplay of Interactional Space and Multimodal Instructions in Teaching Contexts

About this Research Topic

Background

Research on interactional space centers on the architecture of space, bodies in space, as well as the affordances of spatial arrangements for expected actions and interactional sequences (e.g., Jucker et al., 2018; Jucker and Hausendorf, 2022). Interaction and space are reflexively related: on the one hand, spaces are assigned meaning in and through interaction; i.e., space is interactionally conceptualized and 'brought about' as an 'event' or 'something that happens' (Hausendorf and Schmitt, 2018). On the other hand, interaction is spatially contextualized (Mondada, 2013). An interactional space is therefore always dynamic and flexible: it is constituted and (re)configured locally and praxeologically by the situated, mutually adapted, changing arrangements of the participants’ bodies, the way they are coordinated, the activities they perform, their mutual attention, their focus of attention, as well as the objects they handle (Goodwin and Goodwin, 2004; Mondada, 2009). Within an interactional space, various types of ‘sub-spaces’ can be distinguished, such as a perception space, a movement space, and an action space; all of which contribute to the creation of a shared interactional space.

A growing body of research on ‘doing space’ (Jucker et al., 2018) has led to a reconceptualization of notions such as participation, perception, and shared space in teaching contexts (e.g., Putzier, 2016; Markee, 2015; Jacknick, 2021; Kunitz, 2021). This Research Topic focuses on the availability and affordances of spatial knowledge (whether habitualized or not) as well as the (co-)presence of bodies in interaction for the realization of instructions in educational contexts. Following Lindwall et al. (2015, p. 145), we understand instructions as “social actions that have an educational import.” More specifically, we understand them as a typical practice within teaching or education, and as related to the transfer of knowledge and the intention to promote learning. Instructions are social actions that are often linguistically formatted as requests, orders, or directives, and which are imparted either with the intention of making someone else do something, or with a view to 'doing something together' (Simone & Galatolo, 2023). They are usually given to instruct a complex action (Ehmer et al., 2021) or 'procedure' (Mushin, Gardner and Gourlay, 2019); i.e., a series of actions. Herein we take instructions to also include written texts such as manuals, recipes, travel directions, assignment prompts, blueprints or construction plans, patterns (e.g., for knitting), tutorials, and game rules.

In this Research Topic, we are specifically interested in the role of spatial arrangements and configurations vis-à-vis (oral or written) instructions in teaching contexts, as well as the adaptation of instructions and relevant semiotic resources to spatial conditions. Teaching contexts are not limited to institutionalized forms of teaching, such as schools, but include any setting where someone is teaching someone else to do something. We invite submissions exploring the interplay of interactional space and multimodal instructions in an empirical or corpus-/case-studies-based fashion. The Research Topic is open to various methodological and interdisciplinary perspectives; e.g., conversation analysis, interactional linguistics, ethnography, (multimodal) discourse analysis, and critical discourse analysis.

Possible focal points include, but are not limited to, the following:

• the establishment of a shared interactional space when giving instructions; i.e., how space and instructions are jointly brought about
• the transformation/reconfiguration of interactional space while giving instructions
• the dissolution/transformation of interactional space as instruction-giving interactions or sequences are closed.

In addressing these points, the focus should be on the use of oral, embodied, material, and suprasegmental semiotic resources; e.g., the use of verbal (and vocal) means, visual means (gesture, gaze, facial expression, body movements), material means (artefacts), prosodic means (pitch, timbre, and volume), and means of temporal, spatial, and bodily coordination, including mobility.

Keywords: interactional space, spatial affordances, multimodal instructions, teaching contexts, doing space, perception, doing something together, participation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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