the interaction. Furthermore, they are context renewing because they influence the
subsequent trajectory of the teacher’s and child’s actions.
Ciara has a repertoire of resources at her disposal that, on the one hand, assist her in
her own solitary searching and, on the other hand, serve to mobilise the teacher’s
involvement in her hunt for words. The detail of how these resources are designed is
described next, taking account of linguistic (syntactic and semantic), prosodic (pitch
contours) and non-verbal (gaze and gesture) components of the talk, as relevant to the
analytical points under consideration. It will be shown that a variety of work is
performed by the child’s actions. In the first example we see a variety of finely-tuned
resources that act as turn-holding devices so that Ciara is able to complete a self-
repair. Later examples show her use of a repertoire of verbal techniques that invite the
teacher to provide a prompt or candidate lexical item. The following analysis also
shows how Ciara’s verbal techniques operate alongside the non-verbal resources of
gaze and gesture.
Data extracts (1-3) take place during a small group activity that involves between four
to six children. The teacher is helping the children to write a story with the use of
picture props (various characters and settings that the children have drawn
themselves). Extract 1 is an example of how several components of the design of
Ciara’s turn, namely syntax, prosody, silence and gaze work simultaneously and
sequentially to achieve turn holding which affords her the opportunity to conclude her
self-repair. Ciara’s pitch height is indicated impressionistically in real time above her
spoken words, whereas, in order to provide clarity for the reader, her direction of gaze
is displayed underneath.