Verbal and nonverbal disagreement in an ELF academic discussion task

Recent English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) studies have examined the linguistic features of disagreements during interactive academic tasks and casual conversations. Fewer studies, however, have explored nonverbal cues of disagreement, and even less is known about how interlocutors perceive disagreements. Therefore, using data from a corpus of ELF interaction, this study examined the verbal features and visual cues used by ELF university students to disagree during an academic discussion task. The disagreement episodes were selected through a content analysis of stimulated recall protocols in which a speaker stated that a disagreement had occurred. Transcripts were analyzed to classify the speaker’s verbal strategies as being mitigated or unmitigated. Video recordings were examined for facial expressions, body movements, and hand gestures. Findings revealed that ELF students used mitigated linguistic strategies, such as hedges, during disagreement while gaze aversion, smiling, and head nods were the most frequent nonverbal cues. The stimulated recall data showed that disagreements were perceived as an opportunity to listen, think, and share different opinions. Implications are discussed in terms of how to interpret features of disagreement in language classrooms.