Mode-switching in video-mediated interaction: Integrating linguistic phenomena into multimodal transcription tasks

Abstract

Abstract Digital environments have shaped unprecedented configurations of spontaneous interactions ( Herring, 2013 ), thus giving rise to emergent patterns of language variation. The borders between spoken and written language have been blurred by the interplay of semiotic resources and medium affordances ( Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001 ), and to the point that traditional ideas about spoken/written variation – with related implications in language teaching/learning – have been challenged. An example of language variation has been labelled mode-switching (which paraphrases code-switching , cf. Heller (1988) , and draws on Halliday s register component of mode , 1978) that describes the alternation of speech and writing in the same communicative event in video-mediated communication ( Sindoni, 2013 , Sindoni, 2014 , Sindoni , 2019b ). Previous findings show that mode-switching is mainly used to manage the flow of conversation and for self-repair in multi-party interactions, whereas patterns and use of mode-switching are still unmapped in one-to-one interactions. Drawing on a corpus of multimodal data (i.e. 48 Skype video-calls involving peer interaction between postgraduate students and friends and/or relatives), examples of mode-switching will be presented in one-to-one interactions by expanding on conversation analysis theories ( Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974 ). Assuming that mode-switching is not used to hold the floor in one-to-one contexts, other creative uses will be documented, for example with reference to medium affordances, speakers’ interpersonal attitudes, and interplay with other semiotic resources (e.g. layout, visuals, etc.). Discussion of data will include excerpts of multimodal transcription of video-mediated interactions produced by students to highlight how transcription can be pedagogical and helpful in understanding how students heuristically make sense of these video-mediated events and establish priorities in their reconstructions of video data. In conclusion, the productivity of these patterns in spontaneous video-mediated communication calls for a systematic theoretical reflection and subsequent incorporation in teacher training, syllabus design, and institutional learning contexts.