Counterproductive Gesture: The Thinking Process of Slow Learners in Solving Integer Operations Problems

Abstract

Introduction: The learning process carried out by slow learners at special schools garners substantial attention. Gestures that are produced spontaneously by them possibly represent students’ thoughts.

Objectives: The purpose of this research is to describe the thinking processes of slow learners when solving integer addition and subtraction problems through their gestures.

Methods: A qualitative method with case study research was adopted in this study. The subject of this study was a slow learner student at a Special School in East Java, Indonesia. The student was chosen because he was indicated to produce counterproductive gestures while solving math problems. Counterproductive gestures are gestures from the teacher (source) that are processed inappropriately by the recipient. This phenomenon requires a more comprehensive investigation, particularly for slow learners, to gain deeper insights into their problem-solving cognitive processes influenced by counterproductive gestures.

Results: The results of the study showed that slow learner students often saw the movement of the teacher’s lips (source) compared to the movements of other body parts (fingers, arms, and hands). As a result, slow learner students do not understand the meaning conveyed through other body movements (fingers, arms, and hands).

Conclusions: Students have difficulty making abstractions on the concept of adding and subtracting integers, causing students to easily experience distraction from actions carried out in the form of gestures. As a result, there is a mismatch of gestures when solving addition and subtraction problems.

Keywords: thinking process, gesture, counterproductive gestures, slow learner students, mathematics problem