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Gesture as a Private Form of Communication During Lessons in an ESL ‐Designated Elementary Classroom: A Sociocultural Perspective
Author(s) -
McCafferty Steven G.,
Rosborough Alessandro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
tesol journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1949-3533
pISSN - 1056-7941
DOI - 10.1002/tesj.104
Subject(s) - gesture , psychology , modality (human–computer interaction) , perspective (graphical) , sociocultural evolution , active listening , population , sociocultural perspective , natural (archaeology) , comprehension , private speech , ell , mathematics education , pedagogy , linguistics , teaching method , communication , vocabulary development , sociology , social psychology , computer science , philosophy , demography , archaeology , human–computer interaction , artificial intelligence , anthropology , history
This research studies an elementary classroom of all English language learners ( ELL s) for the use of forms of gesture without speech for private communication. This private–public modality allowed the teacher to attend to individuals without significant disruption of her concurrent speech. Students also used this modality in various contexts as well. Three functional categories were determined from the data (70 hours of video‐recording) for the use of this modality: managerial and pedagogical forms for teacher–student and student–student interactions, and personal forms for students (typically playful exchanges). The teacher was considered highly effective, having taught ELL s for many years. Her use of representational gesticulations was prolific, suggesting that she had come to recognize that these gestures facilitate listening comprehension for this student population (Church, Ayman‐Nolley, & Mahootian, 2004). As such, her development of a gesture‐only channel for private communication would seem a natural extension of the prominence she accorded gesture in general. Given the social niche of a classroom, students were sensitive to this modality and engaged in its use themselves. Indeed, newcomers to a community are subjected to mastering the objects and symbols of the new environment only achieved through participation and actuation (Rosa, [Rosa, A., 2007b]).