This action research project tested the use of embodied spatial pedagogic tasks as a means of resisting the dominance of language-based exchange within a multilingual MA context. The thoughts below are formed from my initial embodied responses to the workshop intervention (see post 5) and the collated responses from student questionnaires.
Collated responses to Embodied pedagogy questionnaire
Collated secondary data from the reflective postcards
The responses from students supported the observation that initiated the study, that language-based discussion, while valued, can reproduce inequities related to confidence, neurotypical modes of processing, and English language fluency.
The findings suggest that embodied tasks offer alternative routes into engagement and were widely experienced as stimulating, and generative. The majority of students reported that these approaches supported their neurodiverse learning needs, reduced anxiety, and disrupted hierarchical classroom dynamics, contributing to more socially just conditions for participation.
Moving beyond binaries and wellbeing
Originally, I wanted to find a form of immediate class exchange that wasn’t reliant on language: a movement-based discussion. On reflection, this original aim risks falling into the binaries that often surround embodied pedagogy (Perry and Medina 2011) where words and movement are deemed incompatible.
I was struck by the warmth and depth of the group discussion at the end of the Unit 4B evaluation session. My sense, from the evaluations/observations, is that it was the embodied practices that enabled them to come to language with more ease and trust. The findings also suggest that it is the movement between embodied enquiry and discussion: the modulation between different ways of knowing that is key. Social justice is not achieved by replacing word-based learning because it is not words themselves that are the sole issue; it is learning the learning environment in which words are used.
‘Bringing attention to moving around the [sic] room in any way that you designed – this really disrupts the authoritative and intimidating environment sometimes found in the classroom’ (Questionnaire)
There is a sense from the literature that generating wellbeing through embodied practices will lead to social justice outcomes (Timperley, 2021 Clughan 2023). This research suggests the opposite: it is the fact that embodied practices generate socially just environments, which then leads to feelings of ease and well-being. A central point to emerge from this project is that the dominant focus on embodied practices as tools for wellbeing risks overlooking their radical social justice potential, as such approaches often leave the foundational inequities of the classroom unchanged.*
What the feedback from the workshop shows is that spatial tasks act as critical pedagogic tools, exposing the dominance of normal learning spatial arrangements that privilege particular types of learning and learners through an emphasis on stillness, language and a hierarchical focus on the teacher. De-hierarchising the space, and the spaces where language is needed allows people to find their own place. It creates fairer conditions that are inclusive for different learners, and it is this that makes people feel relaxed and more able to speak.