The role of hand gestures in audiovisual presentations by theology students: Alignment of theory and practice/Die rol van handgebare in oudiovisuele aanbiedings van teologiestudente: Belyning van teorie en praktyk

• Published in: Tydskrif vir geesteswetenskappe 2021-12, Vol.61 (4), p.959
• Main Author: Carstens, Adelia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0041-4751
• DOI: 10.17159/2224-7912/2021/v61n4-1a2

Communication in the 21st century has become multimodal. A variety of primary modes, including text, narration, movement, colour and sound are also "translated" and delivered in secondary modes through electronic devices. One of the genres that is characterised by multimodality is audio-visual presentation. In students 'presentations, speech is normally the primary mode, supported by text, movement, still pictures and colour. In oral presentation, physical gestures, gaze and other body language function as part of multimodal ensembles. This article focuses, in particular, on the hand gestures that form part of modal ensembles. In scholarly literature, the word "gesture" is used to imply that the actor has some voluntary control over a movement, and its meaning. Gestures are "actions" demonstrating "features of manifest deliberate expressiveness" (Kendon, 2004:14, 15), which involve the hand and arm movements humans make when they speak (Seyfeddinpur, 2011:148; Roth, 2001:368). Much of the theoretical literature on gestures deals with how they are cognitively processed. De Ruiter (2007) distinguishes three main "architectures" that account for different viewpoints on the processing of manual gestures: Window Architecture (Beattie, 2003) assumes that gestures come straight from the mind, without mediation by language. Language Architecture assumes that the language a person speaks affects their gesture. Postcard Architecture implies that words, speech and gesture arise together from an underlying propositional representation that has both visual and linguistic aspects (Tenjes, 2001:317). Kendon (1980; 2004) and McNeill (1992:2) have consistently emphasised the unity of speech and gesture. Postcard Architecture resonates with thinking in recent and current studies in multimodality, that there are no distinct semiotic systems in the human brain, but rather one integrated repertoire of linguistic and semiotic practices from which communicators constantly draw (Garcia, 2009; Garcia & Li, 2014; Canagarajah, 2011; Mazak, 2017). Sign makers make meaning by drawing on a variety of modes that combine with others in "ensembles" (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996; 2001; Kress, 2010). However, there is still no general consensus on whether gestures primarily explicate the thought processes of the speaker, or intentionally communicate information to the audience or interlocutor, or both. For the purpose of this article it is deemed sufficient to recognise that gestures constitut