Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
19-to’plam 3-son May 2025
287
TEACHER’S SPEECH AND GESTURE AS A COMMUNICATIVE
AND STRATEGIC TOOL
Supervisor Moydinova Shohida
and.
Qirgizova Munosibxon
the student of Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages
,
Abstract Educational researchers and the mathematics education community
have recently begun to focus on the importance of students engaging in disciplinary
conversations. Additionally, researchers’ interest in designing more effective
learning opportunities for students whose first national language is not English,
have begun to investigate the important differences between conversational
English and academic English. However, research has shown that academic
English is difficult to master and even native English speakers struggle in
conveying mathematical reasoning using the proper registers. A challenge that
English Language Learners (ELLs) encounter is learning academic content and
language simultaneously. Given the importance of academic English to learning
and assessment, we need to better understand how teachers can influence students’
discourse practices in ways that lead students to bridge their existing and often
informal mathematical ideas to the formal registers of mathematics. This paper
will assert that gesture (combined with speech) was a tool that a bilingual teacher
used effectively to convey and discuss algebraic concepts with Hispanic ELL high
school students. We argue that gesture is an important visual resource that can
play a valuable role for ELLs in creating effective discourse practices and
environments.
Introduction
Educational researchers and the mathematics educational community have
recently begun to focus on the importance of students engaging in disciplinary
Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
19-to’plam 3-son May 2025
288
conversations (Forman, 1996; Lampert, 1989; Lampert, Rittenhouse, &
Crumbaugh, 1996; McClain & Cobb, 1998; McNair, 1998; O’Connor, 1998;
O’Connor & Michaels, 1996; 1993). Studies show that students can learn
mathematics at a deep level of understanding when creating an effective set of
classroom discourse practices that lend in mathematical communication and
academic English. The push for mathematical discussion and academic English is
critical given that students are assessed based on their understanding of written
texts and their ability to communicate mathematical concepts in writing and at
times via discussion. Research studies have also shown that academic English is
difficult to master. Even native English speakers struggle to interpret and
communicate in mathematical registers1 (Pimm, 1987). The challenge is even
more complicated for ELLs who must learn academic content and language
simultaneously. For this reason, researchers’ interest has focused on designing
more effective learning opportunities that investigate and pinpoint the important
differences between conversational English and academic English for the growing
population of students whose first national language is not English. Given the
importance of academic English to learning and assessment, we need to better
understand how teachers can influence students’ discourse practices in ways that
lead students to bridge their existing and often informal mathematical ideas to the
formal register of mathematics. Teachers’ implementation of discourse practices
in their classrooms will depend on the way they conceptualize the relationship
between mathematical discourse and understanding
By the start of the next century, Latinos will become the largest minority
group in the United States (United States Department of Census, 2001). These
demographics will affect both K-12 and higher educational systems. To date,
schools that are not equipped with appropriate or sufficient resources have
underserved Latino students. Pedagogical practices that are not effective in
fostering academic English development and academic success have failed to
address the needs of these Spanish-speaking ELLs. The traditional question, “Why
do ‘they’ (ELLs) fail?” has been scrutinized by educational researchers in hopes of
Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
19-to’plam 3-son May 2025
289
reducing the number of students who persistently fail in U.S. schools. However,
research has yet to resolve how to close the “achievement gap” or how best to
facilitate the transition from everyday language to academic language2 . Research
on monolinguals shows that participating in discourse practices can be a tool that
facilitates students’ learning academic content as well as acquiring the appropriate
skills needed to communicate academically. This research also argues that
scholarly debate and argumentation can promote higher levels of thinking as
students present their own ideas and then justify or defend those stated positions
(Lampert, 1989a; 1989b). Yet some teachers struggle to incorporate these practices
in their monolingual and bilingual classrooms because of the limited support
available to them in making informed pedagogical decisions about how best to
implement discourse practices.
In the class discussion about Tara and Ingrid’s race, Mr. Garcia’s gesture in
conjunction with speech and graphic resources paralleled created meaning when
language was abstract, general, or unclear to students. Moreover, the teacher’s
gestural performances became an additional strategic tool that lent in resolving
multiple meanings, clarifying or reinforcing mathematical concepts, and advancing
the mathematical lesson. The teacher was able to advance the mathematical lesson
by highlighting and emphasizing particular aspects of his talk or the graphic
displays, de-emphasizing the need for academic English language and the formal
mathematical register when students were struggling to understand him or express
themselves, and emphasizing and facilitating the use of English on the public floor.
Gesture and the accompanying talk served as a communicative tool that enabled a
teacher and his students to discuss mathematical concepts, procedures, reasoning,
and hypotheses. Most importantly, students limited mathematical registers and
English fluency did not restrict them from engaging in a mathematical discourse.
Mr. Garcia’s gestural performance and talk were purposeful in making
mathematical ideas meaningful to students, especially for new or abstract ideas like
velocity. His use of gesture also facilitated in modeling academic English as he
revoiced or restated his students’ utterances in everyday English (Enyedy, Rubel,
Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
19-to’plam 3-son May 2025
290
Castellon, Mukhopadhyay, Esmonde, & Secada, under review). Because of the
ways that gesture was used as a resource to elaborate talk—and in particular the
talk in English—students were able to grapple with mathematical concepts. The
confusion of transferring from the English language to mathematical discourse was
minimized through the use of gestural performance and speech
Reference
Alibali, M.W. (1999). How children change their minds: Strategy change can
be gradual or abrupt. Developmental Psychology, 35,127-145.
Alibali, M. W., Flevares, L. M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1997). Assessing
knowledge conveyed in gesture: Do teachers have the upper hand? Journal of
Educational Psychology, 89, 183-193.
Alibali, M. W. & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1993). Gesture-Speech mismatch and
mechanism of learning: What the hands reveal about a child’s state of mind.
Cognitive Psychology, 25, 468-523.
Church, R. B., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1986). The mismatch between gesture
and speech as an index of transitional knowledge. Cognition, 23, 43-71.
Cocking, R. R., & Mestre, J. P. (Eds.) (1988) Linguistic and cultural
influences on learning mathematics, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cuevas, G. J. (1984). Mathematics learning in English as a second language.
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 15, 134-144.
Corts, D. P., & Pollio, H. R. (1999). Spontaneous production of figurative
language and gestures in college lectures. Metaphor and Symbol, 14, 81-100.
