Gesture as a learning carrier in the foreign language classroom: Towards an embodied learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32870/vel.vi18.163Keywords:
Gestures, Embodied learning, Cognition, Language teaching, MultimodalityAbstract
Movement is our first teacher. From birth, humans learn by gesture. However, even today, a majority of students “learn” a foreign language by sitting at their desks, contradictory to genuine communication through sharing an expression, language is extracted from its context and bodily dimension. Instead, it is completely theorized and transmitted to static beings.
In this article, we present the link between gestures and speech as well as cognitive processes involving corporeality. This leads us to potential didactics proposals that embody foreign languages. The gestures, then, would take their place, and learners would master their language acquisition through physical integration and situated cognitive processes. Our research is influenced by theories, such as mirror neurons (Rizzolati & Sinagaglia, 2008), embodied cognition (Varela, Thompson, Rosch et Alva,1993, Lakoff, 1999, 2000), multimodality (Coletta, 2004, 2005, Azaoui, 2014) and kinaesthesic education (Dennison, 2010). These theories are derived from the fields of cognitive science, language didactics and cognitive psychology. We will respond the following questions : What relationship does gesture and cognition have ? Can the inclusion of the body, specifically gestures, be used for educational purposes? What cognitive benefits can integration of gestures bring into foreign language learning?
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