Actions speak as loud as words; a multimodal analysis of boys' talk in the classroom

This article considers some of the findings of a research project comparing discourse analysis and multimodal analysis as research methods. It describes some of the insights into the multimodality of children’s communication as revealed by that study and questions whether descriptions based primarily on discourse analysis give as thick a description as possible. Given the current interest in ‘Speaking, Listening, Learning’ in Key Stage 1 and 2, the paper posits that the communicative functions of gesture, posture and other forms of multimodal meaning making will have implications for teachers of English seeking to extend opportunities for learning through speaking and listening.