INTEGRATING GESTURAL AND VISUAL MODES IN CLASSROOM DISCOURSE: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS OF TEACHER-STUDENT INTERACTIONS

Abstract

Classroom interaction involves the exchange of meaning through various communication channels beyond spoken language. This study explores how English teachers integrate gestural and visual modes in classroom discourse to enhance student engagement and understanding at SMK Bhakti Kencana Tasikmalaya. Using a qualitative design, data were collected through classroom observation, video documentation, and semi-structured interviews with six students. The analysis applied the Multimodal Discourse Analysis Approach, focusing on the identification and classification of gestures and visual elements utilized by teachers in their instructional interactions. The findings reveal that teacher strategically combine deictic gestures and visual features such as the use of color, typographic emphasis, and layout to enhance the salience and comprehension of key instructional points. Teacher deployment of beat gestures, combined with structured visual arrangements, effectively organizes learning sequences and facilitates clearer task segmentation. The study concludes that the integration of gestural and visual modes significantly enhances meaning-making and student engagement by creating coherence between verbal explanations and visual representations. These multimodal strategies not only clarify learning content but also increase student motivation, attention, and understanding, making classroom interactions more inclusive and effective.

Keywords: Multimodal discourse analysis; gestural mode; visual mode; classroom interaction; EFL teaching