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October 16, 2005
Gestures
Like Rachel, I had trouble paying attention to people's gestures. I would try at the beginning of a class to pay attention to how the professor used gestures but within a few minutes I would forget because I would have to concentrate more on what was being said in the class. I also was trying to pay attention to my gesturing, but I never really caught myself. But I think I'm going to continue to try because I am curious how much I gesture and how I do it as opposed to others. However, over the past few days I have made some general observations.
First of all, I have really noticed that people still use many gestures even when talking on the phone. I think this is amazing. Consciously you know that the person on the other end can't see you, but you continue to gesture anyway. I think this shows just how much people gesture and how natural it is to gesture while speaking.
Also, the most common type of gesture I saw over the past few days was the deitic gesture. I saw many people pointing people in the right direction and showing them where to go or where they had been.
I also paid attention to the three stages of gesturing: preparation, stroke and retraction. I noticed that people had different places where they put their hands after retraction. Some people folded their hands, some left them hanging at their side, some put their hands in their pockets, or if they were sitting, they might have put them on their laps. I found this very interesting.
-Jessica F.
Posted by lcisfaria at October 16, 2005 10:27 AM