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October 15, 2005
Gestures
Last week, I tried hard to analyze one of my professors' gestures as she taught class. She mostly used beats as she spoke and definitely did have more emphasized beats on the words that she emphasized while speaking. This is hard to distinguish from cohesives because she was using both kinds at the same time with repetitive gestures. As for deictic, she also used these gestures many times to point at images in her Powerpoint presentation. What Nanette V. said about the professor whose ratings went way up when he began using gestures was very interesting to me. But, I was thinking as the other professor was giving her lecture, although she did use gestures, it was still a rather dry lecture. And this is about a suject that I LOVE so it's not the content, but the lecture itself that can be boring, even with gestures. So I would argue that alongside gestures, the manner in which someone speaks is also important when it comes to captivating an audience. When the professor says "um" over and over, and only reads off of her slides rather than giving a lively presentation, gestures help, but do not singlehandedly make the lecture wonderful. Even though it doesn't sound like it from my writing, this professor is a very nice person who is interested in her subject, and really does know what she's talking about. This is only a critique on whether or not gestures can make or break a lecture.
Posted by lcishagan at October 15, 2005 11:50 PM