Exploring the Role of Visual Representation Signals for Interactional Action in Conversation

Abstract

The main approach to conversation analysis is multimodal analysis, which can be explained by the distinction between the non-verbal and verbal expression in the communicative functions (Haddington & Kääntä, 2011; Streeck et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there was a significant difference between non-verbal or verbal signals in conveying information in conversation. The participants of this study were 37 male Iranian B.S. Paramedic students at medical university for the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army. Two video talk show interviews were shown in order to determine the descriptive features for exchanging information. ELAN video annotation instrument was utilized for analyzing the interviews of this study. To find out which of verbal or non-verbal resources was effective in conveying information, a questionnaire was also developed by the researchers consisting of 19 items on the verbal and non-verbal signals. The results of ELAN analysis for both interviews showed that the descriptive visual cues such as hand movement, gaze, eyebrow motions, and torso were more frequent than the other non-verbal resources. Additionally, the analysis of the questionnaire data showed that there was a significant difference between the visual and verbal elements in the transmission of information from the students' viewpoints. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the non-verbal descriptive resources in conveying information. The findings of this study revealed that non-verbal cues were more effective in the transmission of information than the verbal cues. In addition, hand movements and laughing were found to be more effective than the other visual signals in conveying information.