The Co-Expression of Meaning Through Students' Use of Gestures During Think-Aloud

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Issues in Literacy Research Roundtable 2

Abstract

In a New York City public school, we investigated the reading process for a diverse group of 21 sixth grade students using think-aloud protocol for Ubiquitous (Sidman, 2010), a complex picture book that combines pictures, expository writing, and poetry. We address the following research questions: What are the features of students’ use of gestures as they engage in think-alouds? How do gestures co-express meaning? Using mixed methods, we show the co-expression of meaning in students’ use of gestures and oral language. Our findings show that oral language and gestures function as a dialectic, co-expressing each student’s reading comprehension in non-redundant ways that are deeper than each mode separately. Moreover, gesture-oral language mismatches show instances of students’ emergent understandings.

Authors

• Theodore B. Kesler, Queens College, CUNY

• Kristin Nicole Rainville, Sacred Heart University

• Pablo L. Tinio, Montclair State University