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Article published In:
Applying Embodied Cognition and Cognitive Linguistics to language teaching
Edited by Paolo Della Putta and Ferran Suñer
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 21:1] 2023
► pp. 9–34
Special issue articles

Evolution is an arc along a timeline

Metaphors embodied in teachers’ gesture support abstract conceptualization and academic lexicon acquisition at primary school

| University of Turin
Growing evidence shows the role of teachers gestures not only in L2 learning (Stam & Tellier, 2021) but also in supporting learning in the L1 classroom (Alibali et al., 2014; Crowder, 1996; Wilson et al., 2014). The current study aims at contributing to this last perspective. Based on data from a 3rd grade plurilingual classroom in an Italian school, it observes the ‘catchments’ (McNeill, 2000) in teacher’s gesticulation during a cycle of lessons on “The origin of life”. The analysis identifies conceptual components based on the time is space metaphor associated with gestures, and observes their alignment with lexical items – either technical or common words (evolution, ages, ancestors, archaic; change, back, old) – in speech. The gesture-word association supports both the conceptualization of the notions and the acquisition of the related lexicon: gestures connect recurring concepts to their different verbalisations, ensuring a conceptually coherent representation over the lesson; they establish synonimic relations between technical and common words; and they can also work as memory triggers towards and between concepts and lexical units.
Keywords: teacher gestures, metaphoric gestures, catchment, academic language, plurilingual classes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The study
  • 3.Data analysis and discussion
    • 3.1Catchments and their relation with the lessons’ key concepts
    • 3.2Semantic relations between the catchments and their lexical affiliates
    • 3.3Catchments in the interaction between teacher and students
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 31 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00125.and
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