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(1)Definition of Co-Speech Gestures

Before giving a definition of“co-speech gesture”,it is essential to illustrate theconcept of“gesture”.Cienki and Muller(2009)define the gesture as“visible,effortfulmovements of parts of the body whose primary purpose is apparently not that ofself-adjustment(for example,as with grooming behavior)or object manipulation(such as lifting a cup to take a drink)”.However,the gesture we will focus on in thethesis is that on the hand instead of other body movements,such as foot gestures,head gestures,and so on,as these body movements have little relevance to messagethat speakers want to convey(Yang,2011a).A typical gesture consists of three majorphases:preparation,stroke,and retraction(Kendon,2004).Then Cienki(2008)adds,“it is the stroke phase which is considered to minimally constitute a gesture”.

Co-speech gestures,also called co-linguistic and co-verbal gestures(Jiang&Wang,2013),refer to“the spontaneous,unwitting,and regular accompaniments ofspeech that we see in our moving fingers,hands,and arms”(McNeill,1994).Andaccording to Kendon(2004),co-speech gestures are the hand motions withcommunicative purpose,which are produced with speech.In addition,co-speechgestures are mostly non-conventional and they may“differ in the degree ofconventionality of their form and their function”(Cienki,2008).

2.2 Previous Studies of Co-Speech Gestures and Scaffolding Talk

2.2.1 Previous Studies of Co-Speech Gestures

(1)Overseas Researches

The overseas researches of co-speech gestures started earlier and has manyresearch achievements.Considering the content and purpose of this research,theauthor mainly elaborate from three aspects:the functions of co-speech gestures,thecoordination between co-speech gestures and discourse features,and the research onteachers’co-speech gestures.

After a century of research and discussion in foreign countries,the functions ofco-speech gestures have been deeply understood.Kendon(2004)believed that gestureand language match each other to construct textual meaning,and gesture cansupplement or emphasize the insufficient expression of accompanying discourse.Jacobs and Garnham(2007)pointed out that co-speech gestures also played a role inpromoting communication.When two people have a face-to-face conversation,thereis a large probability of gesture assistance,and when the listener is attentive,thespeaker is more inclined to use gestures for detailed explanation.Besides,co-speech gestures also have the function of auxiliary explanation or deepening understanding.Other scholars considered that co-speech gestures fulfilled predominantly cognitivefunctions benefiting the speaker him or herself,such as the facilitation of lexicalaccess(Pine et al.,2007)and conceptual planning(Kita&Davies,2009).However,these perspectives are not mutually exclusive(Jacobs&Garnham,2007).Consequently,researchers have focused on exploring these types of functions andtheir underlying mechanisms in greater detail.

CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH DESIGN.........................23

3.1 Research Questions..............................23

3.2 Research Participants..................................23

3.3 Research Instruments............................24

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