Joint attention, multimodality, bilingualism and L2 in a scientific enlacement in literature: an integrative review

ABSTRACT This article is an integrative review and contemplates the interweaving of theoretical constructs related to second language acquisition and joint attention. It was proposed, as the main goal, to investigate national and international scientific works on second language acquisition and joint attention, including publications in the period 2002 to 2023. Specifically, the objective was to synthesize the data obtained, identify privileged contexts, recognize the types of gestures most addressed, verify the prioritized age group and the most recurrent languages. This scientific research lies on theories about multimodality authored by Kendon, McNeill, Cavalcante, Fonte, amongst others; on second language acquisition (SLA) research studies carried out by Stam, Grosjean, Moraes; and on joint attention studies in Tomasello’s, Carpenter’s and Costa Filho’s works, amongst others. The methodology comprises an integrative literature review and included the selection of descriptors and search in nine databases, whose sample constituted a survey of national and international investigative studies. Literature references searching in the area was guided by exclusion and inclusion criteria. Results showed two studies on the intersection of the referred themes in Brazil and ten works integrate the entire scope of the inclusion criteria globally. We achieved the research objectives by investigating studies, synthesizing data, identifying that the privileged context was the one of higher education at a graduation level, recognizing that deictic gestures had a higher occurrence nationally, adults were the prioritized group and English was the most studied language. The scientific contribution lies in the validation of the empowerment that joint attention offers to language, its essential nature for acquisition and enrichment of new research in this area.