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Abstract Abstract: Based on a multimodal database of pedagogic scaffolding in Chinese college EFL classrooms and inspired by the Cognitive Dialectic Theory in Critical Discourse Analysis, the present study adopted a quantitative method to explore the associations among gesture types, conversational turns and scaffolding means in teachers’ scaffolding talk, and to find how the three variables coordinate to exert an influence on the final achievement of scaffolding efforts. The results show: first, gestures occur most frequently in scaffolding turns, especially pointing and pragmatic gestures; second, Chinese EFL teachers show a preference on “questioning” and “explaining” means in scaffolding activities. Gestures can optimize the scaffolding effect of “questioning”, but breach that of the latter. A regression study reveals that the coordination among gesture types, turn types and scaffolding means has a significant impact on the effect of scaffolding efforts. To be more specific, the number of gestures occurring in scaffolding turns is found to be positively related to the success of scaffolding act. And “questioning” means plays a significant positive role in realizing scaffolding purpose, while “operational” gesture and “explaining” means play a negative role.
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