Gesture as a Private Form of Communication During Lessons in an ESL-Designated Elementary Classroom: A Sociocultural Perspective

Abstract

This research studies an elementary classroom of all English language learners (ELLs) 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 ELLs 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, 2007b).

The effect of learner age on the interpretation of the nonverbal behaviors of teachers and other students in identifying questions in the L2 classroom

“…Smotrova & Lantolf, 2013), for classroom management (e.g. McCafferty & Rosborough, 2014), and as a general practice (Allen, 2000). Consequently, by making use of both verbal and nonverbal modalities not only when they listen but also when they speak in the L2, L2 learners may learn how to communicate with teachers and other students in the classroom more effectively.…”

“…Such skills are especially important when the learner’s proficiency in the L2 is still limited (Sime, 2008). When students lack sufficient knowledge and skills when speaking or listening, NVBs can be used to compensate (Gullberg, 2006) even more so than when they communicate in their native languages (McCafferty & Rosborough, 2014). Despite the fact that NVBs are claimed to be potentially useful for L2 learners, a large body of past studies conducted in L2 classrooms focused on linguistic facets, at the expense of the nonverbal side (e.g.…”