Written Communication Jul 2005

Gesture and Collaborative Planning: A Case Study of a Student Writing Group

Joanna Wolfe University of Louisville Hospital

Abstract

When writers plan a document together, they rely on gestures as well as speech and writing in constructing a common representation of their group document. This case study of a student technical writing group explores how group members used gestures to create a conversational interaction space that they then treated like a physical text that they manipulated, wrote on, and pointed at. These gestures suggested a group pretext that helped group members translate abstract goals into concrete plans. However, the close proximity of gesture to the physical act of writing may mislead students into thinking that the tricky work of translating abstract ideas into final written form had already been completed. Gestures and adaptor movements (such as fidgeting with a pen) also seemed to conspire to help individuals control the conversational space and call attention to themselves as writers. Implications for future research on gesture and collaborative writing, gender, and writing technologies are discussed.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2005-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088305278108
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
collaborative writing technical communication qualitative research gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Nissi et al. (2022)
    Digital Documenting Practices: Collaborative Writing in Workplace Training
    Written Communication
  2. Olinger (2020)
    Visual Embodied Actions in Interview-Based Writing Research: A Methodological A…
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  3. Clayson (2018)
    Distributed writing as a lens for examining writing as embodied practice
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Clayson (2018)
    Distributed Cognition and Embodiment in Text Planning: A Situated Study of Coll…
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  5. Weedon (2017)
    Representation in Engineering Practice: A Case Study of Framing in a Student De…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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  1. Cimasko et al. (2017)
    Multimodal Resemiotization and Authorial Agency in an L2 Writing Classroom
    Written Communication
  2. Thompson (2009)
    Scaffolding in the Writing Center: A Microanalysis of an Experienced Tutor’s Ve…
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CrossRef global citation count: 15 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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