Unterrichtskommunikation <i>revisited</i>: Tafelskizzen als interaktionale Ressource

Drawing on video-recordings of immersive classroom interaction, this paper investigates the ways in which blackboard inscriptions are used as interactional resources in face-to-face interaction. It furthers current understandings of multimodality by exploring the functional role of material structures within interaction – an aspect of multimodality which is, as yet, neglected. Specifically, the article addresses the following research questions: How are inscriptions introduced and used as a resource for dealing with communicational problems that arise? And, how can the functional role of material resources be described analytically? The analysis examines the interplay of talk, body-display, and the creation and/or manipulation of material resources. Moreover, on a theoretical level, it introduces the notion of "intermediary objects" (Jeantet, Vinck) to the level of sequential analysis. In so doing, the intended contributions of the analysis are twofold. Firstly, it advances the use of the conversation analytic perspective for reseach on teaching and learning settings. And secondly, by presenting the study of 'classroom interaction' as an example of a highly complex interactional scenario, it offers new impetus for the inclusion of multimodal aspects within conversation analysis and linguistic studies.