Gesture of slow learner student in mathematical Communication

Abstract

This article discusses the gesture of slow learner students in solving the problem of mathematical communication. Gesture aims to understand and deepen the thinking process of students who have difficulty conveying ideas either with oral or written. This research is a qualitative research. Data were collected by giving two items of mathematical communication test to a fourth-grade slow learner student of elementary school, then the student gesture was observed through video recording which was obtained when students did the question. The results of this study reveal the pattern of slow learner gesture, i.e.: Iconic gesture: Using the fingers and toes in counting. Representational gesture: The student could not answer a question with a clear rational, student was less able to explain her ideas, but did not feel embarrassed to ask. Writing gesture: Student could write her ideas in writing after a given direction, but she still made a mistake in writing the mathematical symbols (like numbers) and forgot to write arithmetic operations (addition operation). For further research it is necessary to look at gestures with a greater number of samples and variations, both in terms of gender, grade, or cases of other children with Special Needs.