'Periodica Polytechnica Budapest University of Technology and Economics'
Abstract
International audienceKinetic activity fuels cognitive activity and facilitates the expression of thought. Ordinary speakers, not just actors and orators, physically engage in argumentation and use their bodies to articulate abstract meanings. All make a symbolic use of space and gesture to shape ideas and deliver their messages. Because teachers are public speakers, one would normally expect them to control their bodily actions and expressive movements with great professional skill. But few have received any formal training in rhetoric, gesture semiotics or pragmatics. As a result, the teaching bodies of most instructors and the learning bodies of their students tend to underperform in the classroom. Strategies for turning teachers and learners into actors, and learning space into performance space, are suggested. An embodied approach to reasoning and understanding in the teaching room is outlined, and the case is made for greater sensory-motor engagement in secondary or higher education
