Teacher-student engagement patterns in CSL classrooms and beyond

Abstract In this introduction to the special issue, we provide an overview of the features and development of key approaches to teacher-student interaction in second language (L2) classrooms (and tutoring sessions). Our goal is to emphasize the importance of (re)conceptualizing instructor-student interaction from a multimodal perspective, rather than focusing solely on verbal exchanges. We argue that by examining the coordination of verbal communication, non-verbal/embodied actions, conversation participation structures, and salient artifacts in the environment, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of instructor-student engagement patterns. Furthermore, we contend that video-based empirical research in this area holds both theoretical significance and practical value. The papers in this special issue all adopt a perspective that is multimodal, interactional, and theoretical as they investigate a variety of interactional settings in the context of Chinese as a second language (CSL). This introduction concludes with summaries of the papers and provides insights into potential future directions for research in this area.