Gestures and writing of students with intellectual deficiency within the school environment: a case study

Abstract

This study had for aim to analyze the role of gestures as a symbolic display of students with intellectual deficiencies in the learning of written language, based on the interactions that are established in the classroom. From this, the intention is to broaden the discussion about the appropriation of writing by these students at school, according to the Interactionist perspective of languages. In this text, we have attempted to make some brief reflection about the gesture movements performed by the students, linking them to the processes of building up writing skills. Considering the case studies of three students, we chose the case of Deise and we will present here, a brief report of this research that was carried out with this student, in a class of “Youth and Adult Education”, in a public school located in the city of Salvador (BA). The results that were found suggest the need to look into the various functions that gestures can reveal in the dynamics of interacting.