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RESEARCH PAPER
Gestures and the Spoken Language: A Crucial Semiotic and Symbiotic Relationship in Multilingual Mathematics Classes
1
Rhodes University, SOUTH AFRICA
Publication date: 2021-10-15
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2021;17(12):em2034
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This study’s focus was two-fold, first to look at forms of gestures teachers of multilingual
mathematics classes use during teaching; and second to find out how teachers of multilingual
mathematics classes utilize learners’ home language, language of learning and teaching and
gestures to foster understanding in the teaching of mathematics. This qualitative case study is
informed by the embodied cognition theory and social constructivism. Two purposively selected
Grade 11 teachers were observed and video recorded while teaching trigonometry for a week in
a multilingual policy environment. They were each interviewed for an hour. Results shows that
iconic and deictic gestures were frequently used to link the teacher’s verbal language and the
diagrams on the chalkboard or what was previously learnt, to ground cognition into the physical
teaching and learning environment. Metaphoric gestures were less used while beat gestures were
not used. Results also show that there exists an intricate semiotic and symbiotic relationship
between gestures (bodily actions), and spoken language (in two or more languages in the same
environment). In this paper, I conclude that in multilingual classes all forms of teacher gestures
that indicate and refers to objects and locations in reality may help improve learning. Gestures
and verbal languages complement each other, and should be used as resources for mediating
and scaffolding teaching and learning.
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