Dr Elisabeth Zima, University of Freiburg, Germany, will speak on 27 November 2020.
In this talk, I will present results from two case studies that focus on the issue of whether speakers’ gaze shifts towards recipients work as a means to mobilize recipient action. The first case study is concerned with the power of gaze to elicit feedback in storytelling activities. In the second case study, we look at word searches and explore whether and under which conditions gaze shifts towards recipients get interpreted as invitations to help with the word search.
For both feedback placement in storytellings and coparticipation in word searches, previous research has made quite specific claims about the role of gaze. Most notably, Bavelas et al. (2002) propose that feedback in storytelling activities is linked to a gaze pattern they termed gaze window: a short phase of mutual gaze between narrator and recipient, which is initiated by the narrator and during which the recipient gives feedback (e.g. a nod). As for word searches, Goodwin & Goodwin (1986) argue that word-searching speakers predominantly gaze away from recipients. This gaze aversion is indicative of their intent to find the missing word on their own. If, in turn, speakers shift gaze to the recipient in the hesitation phase, this gaze shift works as a means to solicit help in finding the sought-for word.
These basic patterns have been confirmed by quite a few follow-up studies (Bolden 2003, Hayashi 2003, Jehoul 2019, Dressel 2020) but their observations are based on a relatively small number of instances.
Drawing on a larger-scale corpus of dyadic and triadic conversations in German in which all participants’ gaze behavior was recorded by mobile eye-tracking glasses, I show that overall, gaze does work as a means to invite recipient action, both in storytelling activities and in word searches. Its power, however, is limited. To illustrate this, I will zoom in on the role of the sequential organization as well as of a number of contextual factors, such as the spatial arrangement of the interactants (side-by-side versus F-formation, Kendon 1970), and discuss their impact on the power of gaze to mobilize recipients.
