EXAMINING TURN-TAKING AND NONVERBAL INTERACTION IN ENGLISH YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Abstract

This study examines the turn-taking process and nonverbal interaction in English videos on YouTube using Conversation Analysis. Along with the increasing popularity of YouTube as a digital platform for personal and mass communication, understanding how each speaker can process turn-taking followed by the use of nonverbal interaction in the digital context has become a major target today. The purpose of this study is to analyze the turn-taking process from the aspects of self-selection, other-selection, overlapping, and repair, and how nonverbal elements such as facial expressions, eye contact, and hand gestures contribute to the interaction. The data collected were taken from a talk show video on YouTube that featured spontaneous and natural interactions between the host and guests. This study used transcripts to analyze the data in the video. The results of this study indicate that turn-taking is formed at the same time and depends on the context, where both speakers show awareness of the rules of interaction through aspects of self-selection, other-selection, overlapping, and repair. In addition, nonverbal interaction plays an important role in regulating turns, showing expressions of agreement and rejection, and clarifying its verbal meaning. The results show that on average the use of nonverbal is quite good and responds naturally so that the audience can enjoy it. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the use of turn-taking and nonverbal interaction simultaneously in maintaining interaction coherence in digital communication. This study has implications for English language teaching, especially in the realm of pragmatics and discourse competence.