Gestures and Conceptual Integration in Mathematical Talk

SMC Author

Laurie Edwards

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

Kalmanovitz School of Education

Department

Teacher Education

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2009

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

Educational Studies in Mathematics

Description/Abstract

Spontaneous gesture produced in conjunction with speech is considered as both a source of data about mathematical thinking, and as an integral modality in communication and cognition. The analysis draws on a corpus of more than 200 gestures collected during 3 h of interviews with prospective elementary school teachers on the topic of fractions. The analysis examines how gestures express meaning, utilizing the framework of cognitive linguistics to argue that gestures are both composed of, and provide inputs to, conceptual blends for mathematical ideas, and a standard typology drawn from gesture studies is extended to address the function of gestures within mathematics more appropriately.

Keywords

Conceptual blends, Discourse, Embodiment, Fractions, Gesture, Metaphor

Scholarly

yes

DOI

10.1007/s10649-008-9124-6

Volume

70

Issue

2

First Page

127

Last Page

141

Disciplines

Education

Original Citation

Edwards, L. (2009). Gestures and conceptual integration in mathematical talk. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 70 (2), 127-141.

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