Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education · Volume 1
Marijke Ann Campbell
Simon Fraser University
⬇ Download PDFThis paper argues that Bakhtin’s concept of addressivity (the orientation of the speaker toward an addressee) can enrich interactionist gesture models to explain why gesture scale changes during mathematical communication. The analysis shows that during moments of conflicting perspectives of mathematics (in asymmetric engagement), recapitulations occur alongside larger, whole-body gestures. Conversely, when children share the same perspective on mathematics (in symmetric engagement), they produce small-scale gestures with recapitulations. Shared perspectives are seen to coincide with children's adoption of the other’s gestures (hereafter, a gestural relation of agreement). The analysis argues that, in a Bakhtinian sense, speaker gestures are anticipatory, responsive, and multi-voiced.
DialogismGesturesMathematicsCommunicationAddressivity