Interactional Fluency and Turn‐Managing Gestures Across Second Language Proficiency Levels: A Multimodal Analysis

Abstract Whereas L2 fluency research has focused on monologic speech, interactional fluency (IF), particularly during turn transitions, remains underexplored. This study investigates how turn‐managing gestures (TMGs) contribute to L2 IF, drawing on 60 dyadic interactions from Taiwanese learners in the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE). Gesture use across proficiency levels was analyzed in relation to gaps, overlaps, and no‐gap‐no‐overlap transitions. Results reveal that high‐proficiency speakers used TMGs more often, particularly with no‐gap‐no‐overlap transitions, supporting smoother turns. Gesture frequency correlated with overlaps at turn onsets across all levels, indicating a signaling role. At turn ends, only high‐proficiency speakers showed strong TMG correlations with smooth transitions, and low‐proficiency learners used gestures to reduce gaps. These findings demonstrate that L2 speakers use gestural cues to manage turn transitions, highlighting the critical role of TMGs in shaping IF and offering a novel multimodal perspective by integrating speech and gesture analyses.