Alessandro Rosborough

This conceptual paper deals with ways in which gesture or embodied utterances create deictic expressions (i.e.,deixis) that are relevant to second language teaching and learning. While many gesture types have been found to be material carriers of meaning (McNeill, 1992; Vygotsky, 1986), deictics have the ability and function to create new beginnings or propositions for learning. We review research concerning gesture, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural JesTheory (SCT), and findings dealing with the function of gesture in second language classrooms. We provide general gesture classifications and definitions and argue that deictics should be understood for their role in creating and unifying time, space, and qualitatively meaningful experiences. We then provide a conceptual understanding for how gesture works within Vygotsky’s (1987) genetic method, the term he used in researching higher forms of mental behavior. We focus on Vygotsky’s genesis as a space-time act and promote the use of deictics as additional mediation that create genesis junctures that initiate opportune moments for second language(L2) learning between teachers and students. Throughout the paper, we acknowledge Jim Lantolf’s work for providing foundational and insightful understandings in viewing L2 learning and teaching through a Vygotskian perspective.

This chapter presents conceptual metaphors (CMs) coupled with spontaneous gestures, as a critical component of everyday language in second language learning (SLL) classroom settings (i.e., dual language immersion, English as a second language). The theoretical perspectives brought together are Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), McNeill's gestural categorization of metaphorics, and Vygotskian sociocultural theory, including his perspective on concept-based development. The authors examine these theories and then provide natural-occurring discourse examples in a variety of second language elementary educational settings. Using annotated excerpts and examples from a research-data corpus, turn-takings between participants were selected for instances where a teacher's CMs were not necessarily understood, shared, and used by the second language learners (SLLs).

The purpose of this study was to explore how a teachers use of gesture assisted in the learning of English as a second language in a second grade classroom. Using sociocultural theory, this study demonstrates how gesture was an important affordance in assisting second language learners make meaning of their spelling words. Particular to the activity, the teacher created multiple opportunities for the students to use gesture as an embodied form for learning the word. In addition, the embodied form played a central role in extending dialogue about the subject. Most importantly, the use of gesture provided joint-attention and shared meaning-making between the teacher and her students. Findings include how gesture was a vital part of the language learning experience. Implications include the recommendation that teachers heighten their conscious awareness of gesture and formally recognize its role in the second language learning process.