초등영어교사의 제스처가 학습자의 정의적 측면에 미치는 영향

Effects of teachers' gestures on the affective state of elementary school English learners

This study is to investigate how teachers' gestures affect the emotional state of the learners by analyzing learners' responses to the various forms of teacher gestures, and to examine if the response pattern differs depending on grade level and gender. The data were collected through surveys and interviews with 361 students in grades 3 to 6. The students were shown a demonstration video with 15 sets of gestures for given classroom English expressions. They were asked to choose the gesture they liked most for each set. The results showed that the learners preferred gestures which are polite, culturally and socially familiar, unaggressive, and not over exaggerated. Younger children placed more emphasis on communicative aspects of the teacher gestures whereas older children focused on affective aspects. There was a slight gender effect. This study suggests that teachers tailor their gestural forms in a way to support and motivate their learners emotionally as well as cognitively.