Provisional Title An investigation of the roles of teachers’ gestures as visualisation tools in the teaching of mathematics at the junior primary phase (Grades 0-3)

Research goals and questions. The aims and objectives of this study are twofold: To investigate the nature of gestures that selected junior primary phase (Grades 0-3) teachers use in the teaching of mathematics. To understand selected mathematics teachers’ views on the roles of their gestures as visualisation tools in the teaching of mathematics. This study seeks answers to the following questions: 1. What is the nature of gestures that selected teachers use in the teaching of mathematics? 2. What are the visualisation roles of these gestures in the teaching of mathematics?

Context and theory People usually gesture when they talk. Gestures and words often work together, and one relies on the other to have meaning. Thus, the main purpose of gesturing is to aid communication since it occurs most in the communicative context. Kendon (2000) defines gesture as any variety of movements including movements of the hands and arms, adjustment of posture, the touching of oneself, various (nervous) ticks, and fiddling movements that people use when talking. In a teaching setting, Singer & Goldin-Meadow(2005) observe that when teachers teach, they gesture, and learners rely on those gestures in order to understand what they say. Thus, gestures need to convey enough information to be understood alone without verbal language, and have to assist one to infer the meaning of the words they are linked with.

I believe that gestures and visualisation work hand in hand because when the communicator gestures, the recipient visualises. In this study, learners will observe the teachers’ gestures and what they see, they observe through their visualisations. Gestures as visualisation tools help learners to make an adjustment from the concrete to the abstract way of thinking. This study is informed by an enactivist perspective. Begg (2013) defines enactivism as a way of understanding how all organisms including human beings, organise themselves, and interact with their environment. According to the enactivist perspective, a teacher is a relevant aspect of the learners’ environment. Pozzer-Ardenghi & Roth (2006) indicate that teaching does not only involve the words and sentences a teacher produces and writes on the board during a lesson, but also all the hands/arms gestures, body movements, and facial expressions a teacher performs in the classroom.

Methodology This qualitative interpretive case study is planned to go through five phases: Phase one: Identification of site and selection of participants. Phase two: Developing and refining of data collection tools. Phase three: Observation of participants Phase four: Interviews. Phase Five: Analysis of data. This study will be conducted at a school in Omusati region and the participants will be three (3) junior primary phase (Grades 0-3) teachers, and data will be collected through observation and interviews.