Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education · Volume 1
Eunji Kim
Tampere University
⬇ Download PDFThis study examines how Finnish primary school teachers orchestrate Embodied Language (EL) alongside natural, pictorial, and mathematical symbolic language in mathematics classrooms. EL is conceptualized as analytically distinct domains of bodily, tactile, spatial, rhythmic, and playful participation in mathematical meaning-making. The study re-analysed classroom observation data from a qualitative multi-case study involving five lessons taught by three teachers. Qualitative episode analysis shows that EL functioned in qualitatively different ways—as a bridge to abstraction, as structured sense-making, and as procedural support—highlighting the pedagogical importance of intentional coordination of embodied action within instruction. Practical challenges and affordances in multimodal teaching are also addressed.
Embodied Languagemultimodal sense-makinginstructional orchestration