Embodied-Visual Practices during Conversational Repair: Scoping Review

Abstract

Repair organization provides a powerful mechanism for handling problems of mutual understanding in natural conversation. Our study reviews past research on repair initiation and resolution practices involving embodied-visual practices, including eye gaze, facial expressions, hand gestures, and head and body movements. We charted details of theoretical background, methodology, and main findings for 31 studies. Embodiment was studied equally in connection with self- (SIR) and other-initiated repair (OIR); gaze and gestures were the most commonly studied embodied-visual practices. In OIR sequences, research has focused on upper body and gaze. In SIR sequences, more gestures were examined, but this may be specific to word search, which was predominant in SIR studies. In addition, embodied-visual practices can form gestalts independently from talk, and can occur early in the repair sequence, even pre-trouble source. Data were in Argentine Sign Language, Cha’palaa, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Turkish, and Yélî Dnye.