Chapter published in:
Why Gesture?: How the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating
Edited by R. Breckinridge Church, Martha W. Alibali and Spencer D. Kelly
[Gesture Studies 7] 2017
► pp. 285–316

Making and breaking common ground

How teachers use gesture to foster learning in the classroom

Teachers regularly use gesture as part of multimodal instruction to both break and make common ground. Teachers break common ground when they introduce new ideas and new mathematical practices. Teachers make common ground by connecting new ideas to students’ prior knowledge and to current disciplinary practices. Our findings show the importance of linking gestures, a highly regulated aspect of pedagogical communication, which is used to foster connection building, while reducing the cognitive demands for learners. A focus on the function of pedagogical gesture for managing common ground provides an account of classroom learning that resolves the Learning Paradox by examining the establishment, maintenance and disruption of common ground.
Published online: 26 April 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/gs.7.14nat
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Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

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2020. The Future of Embodied Design for Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Frontiers in Education 5 Crossref logo
Alibali, Martha W., Mitchell J. Nathan, Rebecca Boncoddo & Elizabeth Pier
2019. Managing common ground in the classroom: teachers use gestures to support students’ contributions to classroom discourse. ZDM 51:2 ► pp. 347 ff. Crossref logo
Gerofsky, Susan & Kim T Zebehazy
2020. Enhancing mathematical noticing of graphs through movement, voice, and metaphor: An intervention with two students with visual impairment. British Journal of Visual Impairment ► pp. 026461962096351 ff. Crossref logo
Nathan, Mitchell J., Amelia Yeo, Rebecca Boncoddo, Autumn B. Hostetter & Martha W. Alibali
2019. Teachers’ attitudes about gesture for learning and instruction. Gesture 18:1 ► pp. 31 ff. Crossref logo

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