Touching through the screen: embodied learning through on-line intercultural exchanges among primary school children. Issue 6 (7th September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Walton, Jessica
• Is Part Of: British journal of sociology of education. Volume 43:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 825
• Page End: 841
• Publication Date: 2022-09-07
• Subjects: Embodied learning -- intercultural education -- body pedagogics -- body pedagogies -- situated epistemic relations -- practical epistemological analysis; Educational sociology -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 306.43
• DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2022.2080044
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-5692

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is based on ethnographic research of Australian and South Korean primary school students' experiences of on-line synchronous intercultural exchanges as part of a school partnership. Starting with an embodied understanding of learning, I discuss the applicability of body pedagogies to the on-line context in a classroom setting by analysing how the institutional dimension ('situated epistemic relations') informed how the children were taught to engage during on-line intercultural exchanges in relation to the children's embodied experiences of the exchanges ('practical epistemological analysis'). Through a more holistic approach that includes the body as integral to the students' digitally-mediated interactions, this paper provides a deeper understanding of the students' intercultural learning that is not limited to a cognitive focus on language learning and skill acquisition. I conclude with thoughts on future research directions including how children's embodied experiences of intercultural exchanges may contribute to the longer-term development of an 'intercultural habitus'.