Teacher Gesture in the English Language Classroom

This book examines the discourse and corresponding gestures used in the classroom by one female instructor and her students in a university English as a second language (ESL) pronunciation course. Specifically, the observations are of the teacher in interaction with students concerning the subject matter. The instructor and students were video recorded for the first five weeks of an eight-week course, meeting twice per week for one hour. The findings are discussed in relation to the instructor¿s embodied practices. The data revealed that the instructor gestured and mimetically illustrated in order to concretize the language. In addition, her performance included nearly constant instantiations of language in terms of gesture. The gestures observed are organized into the different linguistic categories of grammar, pronunciation, and lexis. In addition, gestures related to classroom management are described. This organization reinforces the notion that the instructor was trying to concretize the language and codify it. Gestures in this book are considered in relation to pedagogy. Therefore, not only the gesture types, but also the functions, are discussed.