Gesture- Embodying Meaning in Teaching Practice

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How do teachers mean in body language in face-to-face classrooms and how do these meanings relate to language?

Dr Susan HoodUniversity of Technology, Sydney

sue.hood@uts.edu.au

12 International and National Conference on Discourse Analysis

Tongji University ,China 11-14 November 2010

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Studies of gesture / body language

• Emerge from different disciplinary homes:– anthropology (e.g. Haviland)– psychology (e.g. McNeill)– sociology (e.g. Schegloff)– linguistics /social semiotics (e.g. Martinec, Cleirigh,

Thibault)

• Vary in the focus of attentionEg movements of particular parts of the body or more inclusive of body movements (kinological systems; kinetics)

The common ground on gesture is a broad acceptance of the integral role that gesturing plays in meaning making in face-to-face interaction.

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A social semiotic theory of language

Meaning as a complementarity of metafunctionsideational meaninginterpersonal meaningtextual meaning

SFL as the informing theory

Language as a hierarchy of realisationdiscourse semantics

lexico-grammarphonology / graphology

Language as a hierarchy of instantiationsystem as meaning potential

……

text as instance of the system

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• How do we mean in body language in social interaction?

• How do speech and body language cooperate in meaning making?

general guiding questions

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Face-to-face teaching

Significant in a context in which ‘e-learning’ is promoted at the expense of ‘traditional’ face-to-face teaching.

What are we losing in relation to what we might gain?

specific interests

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How to approach an analysis of face-to-face interaction in classrooms that takes account of language and body language?

What meanings in language?

What meanings in body language?

What meanings in their co-articulation and interaction?

considerations

16 seconds of interaction in the context of …

• an EAP class - preparation for English medium study at post-grad level

• a series of lessons on reading, summarising and synthesising academic arguments around impacts of globalisation

• one micro-phase in one lesson• students have previously read and discussed several

papers and are about to consolidate with a phase in which they review notes and understandings in group discussion, in preparation for a jointly constructed map of an explanation on the whiteboard

• the teacher sets up this task …

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Here’s what the teacher says …

‘We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok. So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?’

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Here’s what she means

as phases in the curriculum genre…

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(…)

We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

(…)

presenting the issue

task specifications

Here’s what she means

as phases in the curriculum genre…

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(…)

We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

(…)

presenting the issue (instructional discourse)

task specifications(regulative discourse )

Here’s how she engages voices other than her own (engagement)…

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We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking

which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

monogloss

heterogloss: expand - irrealis

monogloss

Here’s how she invokes

attitude …

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We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking

which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

[afford]

[flag]

[flag]

[flag]

Here’s what she represents

as salient (as new information)…

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We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

Here’s what she talks about

(aspects of ideation)…

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We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

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We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human trafficking which seem very distanced from each other. Ok

So beginning with th…how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?

text-time (instructional) and field time (regulative): beginning grammatical metaphor: globalisation, human traffickinglexical metaphor: map, steps, cycle, chain

Here’s what she talks about

(aspects of ideation)…

Here’s how she says it…

as clauses and clause complexes

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/// We’re beginning with globalisation // and we’re ending with human trafficking //which seem very distanced from each other. ///Ok // So beginning with th… how can we map out then the the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain? //

tones

1 falling ‘certain’

2 rising ‘uncertain’

3 level ‘not finished’

4 fall rise ‘but’

5 rise fall ‘surprise’

How does she say it as sound ?

Here’s how it sounds

as intonation contours…

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1 We’re / beginning with / globali / sation 1 and we’re / ending with / human / trafficking 1 which seem / very distanced / ^ from each other. 2 Ok 1So be / ginning with / th…1 how can we / map out / ^ then •the the different / steps / in this sort of ^ / cycle / or chain?

Here’s what she does …

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Questions to do with …

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Co-articulation

Collaboration

Coupling

Commitment

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How do body and speech co-articulate and cooperate in meaning-making?

How do we begin to analyse body movements?

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We have quickly surveyed some of the resources of language we can consider in the verbiage

What resources of the body and what bodily movements do we attend to or ignore?

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Cleirigh: ‘Gestural and postural semiosis’ (in Martin in press)

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Differentiates kinds of body languageThree distinct phenomena resulting from the ontogenetic transition from protolanguage to languageDifferentiated in terms of their relation to language

‘Protolinguistic body language’

‘Linguistic body language’

‘Epilinguistic body language’

See also Thibault 2004, interpreting this evolution from perspective of scales of relationship – more to less specific - iconic, indexical, symbolic (Peirce)

Cleirigh:

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‘Protolinguistic’ body language

“a development from infant protolanguage” consists of expression and meaning, exemplified in a raised fist expressing a threat or mutual eye gazeexpressing togetherness.“Protolinguistic body language occurs with both speech and silence”.

Cleirigh:

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‘Protolinguistic’ body language

“a development from infant protolanguage” consists of expression and meaning, exemplified in a raised fist expressing a threat or mutual eye gazeexpressing togetherness.“Protolinguistic body language occurs with both speech and silence”.

Cleirigh:

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‘Linguistic’ body language

“only occurs during speech”. These movements synchronise with the rhythm and intonation of prosodicphonology in language and so express salience and tone, co-instantiating textual and interpersonal meanings.

Cleirigh:

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‘Epilinguistic’ body language

“made possible by transition [from protolanguage] into language, but [is] not systematically related to the lexicogrammar of language (…) realis[ing] meanings rather than wordings”. Epilinguistic body language can instantiate all three metafunctions:ideational, interpersonal and textual.

Linguistic body language

movements synchronise with the rhythm and intonation of prosodicphonology in language - expressing textual and interpersonal meaning

Rhythms on different wavelengths

Whole body movements in space – torso / arm movements – hands, head movements

‘Linguistic body language’

Rhythms in tonicity and tonality

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Shifts in position correspond to tone groups (tonality)

Down beat of hands corresponds to new information (tonic stress)

Rhythms in tonicity and tonality

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Rhythm in body orientation

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We’re beginning with globalisation

and we’re ending withhuman trafficking

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Rhythm in body orientation

Movements of whole body with rhythms of speech

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T4

T2

T1 We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human traffickingwhich seem very distanced from each other. Ok

how can we map out then

in this sort of cycle or chain?

So beginning with th…

T3

T5the the different steps

T6

Movements of whole body with rhythms of speech

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T4

T2

T1 We’re beginning with globalisation and we’re ending with human traffickingwhich seem very distanced from each other. Ok

how can we map out then

in this sort of cycle or chain?

So beginning with th…

T3

T5the the different steps

T6

text time

field time

Body and speech aligning

Body movements align with meanings in speech

Speech pace and pausing accommodate bodily expression

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Epilinguistic body language

Ideational meaning

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…map out…

…different steps…

‘…How can we map out then the different steps…’

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…cycle

…chain

………………………….. in this sort of cycle or chain?

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committing more or less meaning in speech and gesturein speech

‘…How can we map out then the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?…’

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in speech

‘…How can we map out then the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?…’

lexical metaphors

committing more or less meaning in speech and gesture

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in speech

‘…How can we map out then the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?…’

lexical metaphors

map out - position in relation to each other

steps - sequence of temporal/causal relations

cycle - connecting back to a beginning

chain - strong relations between one part and the next

committing more or less meaning in speech and gesture

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‘…How can we map out then the different steps in this sort of cycle or chain?…’

map out verbal: position in relation to each other in a textvisual: spreading metaphoric thing in space

steps verbal: sequence of causal relations in a textvisual: smaller metaphoric things in rapid sequence of moves

through space

cycle verbal: connecting back to an initial point in a textvisual: rotating back to an initial point in space

chainverbal: strong relations between one part of a text and anothervisual: strong tightening of muscles in clenched fists

The literal meaning is made visual in the gesture.

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Epilinguistic body language and textual meaning

two parts of body marking boundaries

Identification

direction

self

other(s)

direction to self

directed away from self, to actual referent(s)

particularisationsurface size of point

potentialdirected away from self, but not directed to actual referent(s)

delimitation

+

-

actual

specification

Epilinguistic body language and textual meaning

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Epilinguistic body language and interpersonal meaning

GRADUATION

force

intensification

quantification

focus

ENGAGEMENT

heteroglossic contraction

entertain heteroglossic expansion

invite

Appraisal

ATTITUDE

Martin & White 2005

GRADUATION

force

intensification

quantification

muscle tension

size

focus ?

ENGAGEMENT

heteroglossic contraction

entertain

prone body positions

heteroglossic expansion

invite

supine body positions

Appraisal

ATTITUDE

oscillating bodymovements

Hood forthcoming

Epilinguistic body language and interpersonal meaning

GRADUATION

force

intensification

quantification

muscle tension

size

focus ?

ENGAGEMENT

heteroglossic contraction

entertain

prone body positions

heteroglossic expansion

invite

supine body positions

Appraisal

ATTITUDE

oscillating bodymovements

Hood forthcoming

Epilinguistic body language and interpersonal meaning

Epilinguistic body language

Ideational and interpersonal meaning

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materialising process types - verbal / mental

‘(...) discuss .... go over (...) key ideas (...) come up with’

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incompletion (on-goingness) of processesrotational movements

53‘just discuss go over the main key ideas that we’ve come up with from those texts…’

Interpersonal meaning of elicitation in the upward and inward rotation

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‘just discuss go over the main key ideas that we’ve come up with from those texts…’

SPOKENcommitting more ideationally

‘discuss go over.…ideas…’ =specific mental and verbal processes

committing differently interpersonallycongruent heteroglossic contraction

GESTUREDcommitting less ideationally

rotating hands at head level = generalised mental or verbal process

committing differently interpersonallymetaphoric heteroglossic expansion

committing more or less ideational meaning in speech and gesture

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How do teachers mean in body language in face-to-face classrooms and how do these meanings relate to language?

co-articulating, co-operating, coupling and commitment

Making meanings salient

Amplification of salience in conflation of rhythmic waves of movement

Amplification in coupling of salience in rhythms of language and body language

Enacting interaction

in the alignment of body movements of teachers and students

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How do teachers mean in body language in face-to-face classrooms and how do these meanings relate to language?

Maximising meaning making potential

Instantiating ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings across different parts of the body

Instantiating metafunctional meanings across semiotic systems

Degrees of commitment of meaning in one or other system

Complex of multimodal redundancy of meaning in face-to-face teaching

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references• Cleirigh, C. Unpublished paper. Gestural And Postural Semiosis: A Systemic-

Functional Linguistic Approach To ‘Body Language’.

•  Hood, S. in press. Body language in face-to-face teaching: A focus on textual and interpersonal meaning. In S. Dreyfus, S. Hood & M.Stenglin (eds) Semiotic Margins: meaning in multimodality. London: Continuum

• Martin, J.R. In press. Multimodal semiotics: theoretical challenges. In S. Dreyfus, S. Hood & M.Stenglin (eds) Semiotic Margins: meaning in multimodality. London: Continuum

• Thibault, P. 2004. Brain, mind and the signifying body. London: Continuum

• Zappavigna, M., C. Cleirigh,P. Dwyer & R.R. Martin 2009. The coupling of gesture and phonology. In M. Bednarek & J.R. Martin (eds) (2010). New Discourse on Language: Functional Perspectives on Multimodality, Identity, and Affiliation. London/New York: Continuum.

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More references• Bezemer, J. 2008. Displaying orientation in the classroom: Syudents’ multimodal responses to teacher instructions. Linguistics and Education, 19

(166-178)• Bauldry, A. (2000) Multimodality and multimediality in the distance learning age. Campobasso, Italy: Paladino Editore• Bourne, J. 2003. Vertical discourse: the role of the teacher in the transmission and acquisition of decontextualised knowledge. European

Educational Research Journal 2 (4), 496-521.• Eisenstein, J. 2008. Gesture in automatic discourse processing. PhD thesis. Massachusetts Intitute of Technology.• Flewitt, R. (2006) ‘Using video to investigate pre-school classroom interaction: Education research assumptions and methodological practices’.

Visual Communication 5 (1): 25-50.• Haviland, J. 2000. Pointing, gestural spaces and mental maps. In D. McNeill (ed).• Hood, S. 2006. ‘The persuasive power of prosodies: Radiating values in academic writing’. Journal of English for Academic Purposes l5: 37-49.• Hood, S. and J.. Martin. 2007. ‘Invoking attitude: the play of graduation in appraising discourse’, in Ruqaiya Hasan, C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, and J.

Webster (Eds) Continuing discourse on language. London: Equinox• Kendon, A. 2004. Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.• Kress, G., C. Jewitt, J. Ogborn, C. Tsatsarelis. Multimodal teaching and learning: the rhetorics of the science classroom. London: Continuum.• Martin, J.R. 1992. English text. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.• Martin, J.R. & D. Rose 2003. Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause. London: Continuum.• Martinec, R. 2000. Rhythm in multimodal texts. Leonardo, 33 (4), 289-297.• Martinec, R. 2002. Rhythmic hierarchy in monologue and dialogue. Functions of language 9 (1), 39-59. • Martinec, R.2004.Gestures that co-occur with speech as a systematic resource: the realisation of experiential meaning in indexes. Social semiotics

14 (2), 193-213.• McGregor, D. 2004. Real space blends in spoken language. Gesture 4(1), 75-89.• McNeill, D. 1998. Speech and gesture integration. In J.M. Iveron and S. Goldin-Meadow (eds), The nature and functions of gesture in children’s

communication, No 79. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass publishers. Pp 11-27.• McNeill, D. (ed) 2000. Language and gesture: window into thought and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.• Norris, S. 2004. Analysing multimodal interaction: A methodological framework. London: Routledge.• Roth, W.-M & D. Lawless. 2002. Scientific investigations, metaphorical gestures, and the emergence of abstract scientific concepts. Learning and

instruction (12) 285-304.• Stenglin, M. 2004 ‘Packaging curiosities: towards a grammar of three- dimensional space’. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Linguistics,

University of Sydney.• van Leeuwen, T. 2005. Introducing social semiotics. London: Routledge.• van Leeuwen, T. 1999. Speech, music, sound. London: Macmillan

59Student:….so it’s just usefulTeacher: GreatI think that’s an important pointwith some of these prepositionsthe grammar rulesmaybe a little unclearmaybe a little flexiblecan depend right?

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identifying other - potential

identifying other - actual

directed away from material referent

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Specifying withlittle fingerindex finger whole hand

side of hand

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‘Frames are bracketed through beginnings and endings marked in a range of different modes of interaction’ (Bezermer 2008:168)

Gestures enacting ‘inter-segmental boundary cues and intra-segmental cohesion’ (Eisenstein 2008: 29)

The periodic patterning of lessons in multi-modal waves signals shifts in activity and kinds of interaction and guides and coordinates student engagement.

Packaging the message in waves of interaction

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Texturing discourse with rhythmic movements on different wavelengths

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Texturing discourse with rhythmic movements on different wavelengths

“... not only are gesture and speech tightly synchronized, but this synchronization occurs on multiple levels, such that

the small linguistic units (e.g., phrases) are synchronized with fast moving body parts (e.g., hands and fingers)

and large discourse units (e.g., topic segments) are synchronised with slower moving body parts (e.g., the torso). (…)

posture shifts occur much more frequently at segment boundaries”

(Eisentein 2008:29)

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If different semiotic modes, or parts of the same semiotic mode, like the instruments in music, are not synchronized often they have not been properly mastered or the piece has not yet been properly worked out. (…)

Synchronization is discussed in chaos theory in the phenomenon of phase locking [19]: when two systems with their own rhythms get close to one another, after a certain time their rhythms synchronize.

At a rather general level, synchrony thus seems to create order out of what may otherwise appear chaotic. Asynchrony, or disorder more generally, is however surely needed, too. Coupled with the right amount of order, it allows any system not to become too rigid and stifled. It allows a degree of freedom and is necessary for evolution. It also makes things more interesting.

(Martinec 2000: 293)

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Concluding

There is a systematicity in gesturing in spoken English - ideationally, interpersonally and textually

We can identify emerging system networks for the meaning potential of gestures

In gesture we can - synthesise meanings across metafunctions- distribute meanings across the body

In gestures plus speech we can- co-express meanings- share the metafunctional load-shift the major responsibility for meaning

In gestures plus speech we can- commit more meaning potential than is committed in either mode independently- commit differently in each mode - commit more or less meaning potential in one mode or another

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Concluding

The practice of face-to-face teaching is intensively multimodally and intermodally interactive.

Analyses of classroom interaction, as instances and as generalised potentials, require us to attend to the multimodality and intermodality of the discourse.

What can a multimodal analysis of classroom practice add to our understanding of generalised practices in different pedagogic paradigms?

How can a multimodal analysis of classroom practice inform our understanding and design of online teaching practices?

What contribution can an understanding of the multimodal complexity of classrooms make to teacher education?