Teaching multimodal literacy : A focus on the comprehension and representation of gesture in oral interactions

In the Australian Curriculum English and the NSW Syllabus English, the importance of communication via the face-to-face channel is acknowledged in the aims and objectives. However, adequate attention is not paid to the oral language skills of speaking and listening. In order to comprehend and perform well in oral interactions, in addition to knowledge about verbal language and intonation, students also need to be taught about gesture as an additional powerful mode of meaning-making, which can complement the meanings made by verbal language in different ways. This chapter outlines how gesture takes on the three metafunctions—the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual—and complements verbal language in semi-casual oral discussions. It concludes by discussing pedagogical practices that use drama and technology in teaching the comprehension and representation of gesture as part of the multimodal literacy pedagogy.