Multimodal dialogue in small-group mathematics learning

In this paper, we combine dialogic and embodied theories of learning to create a unified analytic lens. Embodied cognition is a theoretical approach operating under the premise that thinking and communication are multimodal activities. Under this premise, dialogue between learners needs to be conceptualized using a multimodal lens. We identify multimodal voices as speech and movement bundles situated within a learning context and describe a phenomenon that we call Multimodal Dialogue – multimodal interaction between different multimodal voices. To demonstrate this phenomenon, we analyze a learning sequence by two third-grade students who participated in a mathematics lesson aimed to foster embodied learning of proportion. Our analysis zooms in on the phenomenon of a multimodal voice as a speech-and-movement bundle situated within a learning context. We further show how multimodal dialogic gaps – differences between multimodal voices within and between modalities – drive communication and eventual changes in voices.