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Studies investigating the role gesture plays in communication claim gesture has a minimal role, while others claim that gesture carries a large communicative load. In these studies, however, the role of gesture has been assessed in a context where speech is understood and could easily carry the entire communicative burden. We examine the role of ge...
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Context 1
... were on average 7 years old. There was no significant difference found in age across the four groups (f (3,47) = 0.087, n.s., Table 1). The distribution of boys and girls was also not significantly different across these four groups ( 2 (3) = 0.20, n.s., Table 1). ...
Context 2
... was no significant difference found in age across the four groups (f (3,47) = 0.087, n.s., Table 1). The distribution of boys and girls was also not significantly different across these four groups ( 2 (3) = 0.20, n.s., Table 1). No child demonstrated conservation understanding in the pre-test. ...
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Citations
... These non-verbal elements often carry significant meaning; for example, a teacher's encouraging smile or a demonstrative hand motion can reinforce spoken language. Classic communications research has even suggested that a majority of emotional meaning in face-to-face interactions is conveyed through tone and facial/body cues speaking aids cognition and links new concepts to prior knowledge (Goldin-Meadow, 2009;Church et al., 2004). Neuroscientific studies confirm that gestures activate sensorimotor areas, improving long-term retention (Macedonia & Knösche, 2011). ...
... This can aid their speech production and recall. A study by Church et al. (2004) found that learners who gestured during math problem explanations actually learned more than those who did not, indicating gestures can reveal and facilitate thought processes. ...
Non-verbal communication, particularly gestures and facial expressions, plays a crucial role in second language acquisition by enhancing comprehension, retention, and engagement. This study investigates the impact of teachers’ gestures and facial expressions in an EFL classroom setting, focusing on their influence on vocabulary learning and student interaction. Through an experimental design involving 60 adult learners, we analyzed the effects of high vs. low gesture use and expressive vs. neutral facial expressions on immediate vocabulary recall and long-term retention. The results indicate that gestures significantly improved learning outcomes, with students in the high-gesture condition scoring notably higher on post-tests. While facial expressions alone had a smaller effect on test performance, they positively influenced learner engagement and classroom atmosphere. The study highlights the synergistic effect of combining gestures with expressive facial cues, reinforcing theories of embodied cognition and communicative competence in language learning. These findings suggest that intentional integration of gestures and facial expressions in teaching methodologies can enhance comprehensible input and student motivation, leading to more effective language acquisition. The study contributes to the growing body of research on multimodal learning, emphasizing the importance of non-verbal communication in second language pedagogy.
... This emphasis on a more active learning style can be utilized by instructors in L2 learning classrooms as well as by L2 learning mobile app developers. For example, Church et al. (2004) pioneered the development of the accelerated integrative method, which uses enactment (gestures) to teach French words and phrases. ...
Nous avons comparé l’efficacité des techniques d’encodage dans l’apprentissage d’un langage basé sur les caractères. Au cours d’une phase d’encodage, les participants naïfs de la langue coréenne ont vu 40 paires de mots anglais-coréen dans l’expérience 1 (80 dans l’expérience 2) et ont été invités soit à répéter à haute voix (produire) la prononciation coréenne soit à copier l’image du caractère coréen. La reconnaissance a ensuite été évaluée de deux façons : Dans le cadre d’un test auditif, les participants ont sélectionné la bonne paire parmi deux clips audios de mots coréens, et dans le cadre d’un test visuel, ils ont sélectionné la bonne paire parmi deux caractères coréens présentés visuellement. Dans les deux expériences, la copie de caractères coréens a permis d’améliorer les performances globales. Notamment, nous avons également constaté une interaction telle que la mémoire était plus élevée pour le test auditif lorsque l’encodage nécessitait une production et meilleure pour le test visuel lorsque l’encodage nécessitait une copie. Les résultats suggèrent que le fait de faire correspondre les modalités d’encodage et de récupération du test maximise les performances.
... Experiments testing the effects of teachers' gestures on students' learning have examined a wide range of mathematics and science concepts and a wide range of age groups, and these studies generally show that instructors' gestures support students' learning. With children, teachers' gestures have been shown to be beneficial for students' learning of Piagetian conservation (Church, Ayman-Nolley, & Mahootian, 2004), mathematical equivalence (Cook, Duffy, & Fenn, 2013;Cook, Friedman, Duggan, Cui, & Popescu, 2017;Koumoutsakis, Church, Alibali, Singer, & Ayman-Nolley, 2016;Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005; Wakefield, Novack, Congdon, Franconeri, & Goldin-Meadow, 2018), and symmetry (Valenzeno, Alibali, & Klatzky, 2003). Among adolescents and adults, teachers' gestures have been shown to be beneficial for students' learning about physical causality (Carlson, Jacobs, Perry, & Breckinridge, 2014), mitosis (Kang, Hallman, Son, & Black, 2013), linear equations (Alibali, Young, et al., 2013), statistics (Rueckert, Church, Avila, & Trejo, 2017;Son et al., 2018), and stereoisomers (Ping, Parrill, Church, & Goldin-Meadow, 2022). ...
... Gestures have been shown to enhance learning in studies in which instruction is provided in person (e.g., Congdon et al., 2017;Koumoutsakis et al., 2016;Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005), on video (e.g., Carlson et al., 2014;Cook et al., 2013;Kang et al., 2013;Rueckert et al., 2017;Valenzeno et al., 2003), and by a video-based avatar (Cook et al., 2017). Gestures also have been shown to enhance learning in experiments in which the instruction is provided individually (e.g., Carlson et al., 2014;Church et al., 2004;Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005) and in classroom settings (e.g., Cook et al., 2013;Rueckert et al., 2017;Valdiviejas et al., 2022). Finally, teachers' gestures have been shown to enhance learning of mathematics and science concepts in a range of participant groups, including English learners whose dominant language is Spanish (Church et al., 2004;Valdiviejas et al., 2022), Chinese speakers (Li, Wang, Mayer, & Liu, 2019), and American Sign Language users (Koumoutsakis et al., 2019a(Koumoutsakis et al., , 2019b. ...
... Gestures also have been shown to enhance learning in experiments in which the instruction is provided individually (e.g., Carlson et al., 2014;Church et al., 2004;Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005) and in classroom settings (e.g., Cook et al., 2013;Rueckert et al., 2017;Valdiviejas et al., 2022). Finally, teachers' gestures have been shown to enhance learning of mathematics and science concepts in a range of participant groups, including English learners whose dominant language is Spanish (Church et al., 2004;Valdiviejas et al., 2022), Chinese speakers (Li, Wang, Mayer, & Liu, 2019), and American Sign Language users (Koumoutsakis et al., 2019a(Koumoutsakis et al., , 2019b. ...
How do teachers’ gestures influence students’ learning? This article reviews research investigating the role of gestures in communication, focusing on teachers’ communication with their students, primarily in mathematics and science instruction. We first briefly consider gesture's role in communication more generally as a backdrop for considering teaching as a special context for communication. We then describe teachers’ spontaneous gesturing in teaching contexts, and we consider how teachers’ spontaneous gestures might influence students’ learning. We then consider experimental studies that provide causal support for the effects of teachers’ gestures on students’ learning. We conclude by discussing future directions and implications for educational practice.
... Research in mathematics education focuses on gestures, which are tools with increasing importance for conveying mathematical expressions (Alibali, Boncoddo and Hostetter, 2014a;Alibali and Nathan, 2012). Recent studies have revealed a growing interest in spontaneous gestures of teachers and students when speaking about mathematical expressions and the role of these gestures in mathematics classrooms (Alibali and DiRusso, 1999;Alibali and Nathan, 2012;Alibali et al., 2013;Alibali et al., 2014b;Arzarello, Paola, Robutti and Sabena, 2009;Bieda and Nathan, 2009;Church, Ayman-Nolley and Mahootian, 2004;Goldin-Meadow, Kim and Singer, 1999;Flevares and Perry, 2001;Kim, Roth and Thom, 2011;Marrongelle, 2007;Nathan, 2008;Perry, Church and Goldin-Meadow, 1988;Radford, 2003;Rasmussen, Stephan and Allen, 2004;Richland, Zur and Holyoak, 2007;Valenzeno, Alibali and Klatzky, 2003;Williams-Pierce et al., 2017). Many mathematics educators and linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists and psychologists interested in mathematics education have seemed to turn their attention to gesture studies in mathematics teaching and learning (Arzarello and Edwards, 2005;Arzarello et al., 2009;Goldin-Meadow, 2003;Nemirovsky and Ferrara, 2009;Núñez, 2004;Radford, 2009;Rasmussen et al., 2004;Kita, 2003;McNeill, 1992McNeill, , 2000McNeill, , 2005. ...
... In the context of mathematics learning environments, gesture has become a popular object of study, as it is both a window to the mental representations of the individual making gestures and a teaching tool that guides students to focus and think with representations (Alibali and Nathan, 2012;Alibali et al., 2013;Church et al., 2004;Hostetter and Alibali, 2008;Singer and Goldin-Meadow, 2005;Richland, 2015). Studies on gestures in mathematics education also provide empirical studies and proof on the many roles of gestures in conveying mathematical ideas and thinking. ...
DOI: 10.29299/kefad.776349
Over the past two decades, researchers have been increasingly focusing on gestures
and their roles, which are often revealed in mathematical learning context. Gestures
have been observed as an important tool for communicating and associating
mathematical ideas, and as a concrete evidence for revealing mental representations in
learning environments. In this sense, firstly, what is the importance and definition of
gesture in the context of mathematics education is mentioned. Then, it is briefly
mentioned how to classify the gestures that emerge in learning environments and
accompany mathematical ideas. Afterwards, empirical examples from the studies
conducted in mathematics teaching and learning environments are presented and the
roles of gestures are explained in this context. Finally, thoughts about why analysis of
gestures are necessary in mathematics learning environments, what roles it can play in
mathematics classrooms, and what effects it may have on mathematical understanding
and thinking processes are presented. In this study, which comprehensively deals with
gesture-related studies in mathematics education, suggestions are made on what and how further studies can be.
... This development occurs both physically and mentally. Moreover, the use of gestures in early childhood language acquisition has been proven to reflect natural communicative behaviors and cognitive development stages (Church et al., 2004). ...
Existing research has proved the strong link between gestures and speech both in the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) acquisition. Despite the significant benefits of incorporating gestures into language instruction, there remains a gap in research concerning their impact on very young learners, especially in non-Western settings like Vietnam. The current study investigates the effects of using gestures to teach English intonation to very young learners. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design, and it recruited 49 participants aged 4 to 6 years at a language center. The two intact classes were randomly assigned as the control and experimental groups. The learners in the experimental group were taught intonation patterns of some English sentence types, such as YES/NO questions, WH questions, and statements through gestures, while traditional instructions without any gestures were applied in the control group. Two primary tools were utilized for data collection: intonation tests and observations. The findings demonstrated that learners who received gesture-based teaching significantly showed improvements in their intonation. Additionally, these learners showed more engagement and active participation in class. These results highlight the benefits of using gestures in teaching English intonation, especially in early English language teaching in Vietnam.
... Teachers regularly produce gestures in classroom instruction (e.g., Flevares & Perry, 2001;Wilson et al., 2014), and they gesture at particularly high rates when they present new material, when they teach complex material, and when they respond to students' questions (e.g., Alibali & Nathan, 2007;. Experimental studies have shown that students learn more from lessons that include teachers' gestures than from lessons that do not include gestures (e.g., Cook et al., 2013;Church et al., 2004;Valenzeno et al., 2003). ...
Teachers often use gestures to connect representations of mathematical ideas. This research examined (1) whether such linking gestures help students understand connections among representations and (2) whether sets of gestures that include repeated handshapes and motions – termed gestural catchments – are particularly beneficial. Undergraduates viewed one of four video lessons connecting two representations of multiplication. In the control lesson, the instructor produced beat gestures that did not link the representations. In the link-only lesson, the instructor used gestures to link representations, but the gestures did not form a catchment. In the consistent-catchment lesson, the instructor highlighted corresponding elements of the two representations using identical gestures. In the inconsistent-catchment lesson, the instructor highlighted non-corresponding elements of the two representations using identical gestures. Participants who saw the lesson with the consistent catchment – which highlighted similarities between representations – were most likely to understand the novel representation and to report learning from the lesson.
... For example, schoolchildren who observed meaningful gestures while learning about principles of geometry learned more than children who learned without gestures [37]. Similar findings have been reported for the learning of mathematical equivalences [38], the comprehension of verbal stories [39], and the learning of concepts from video-recorded lessons [40]. Hald and colleagues [41] also demonstrated that dynamic gesture videos benefit vocabulary learning more than static pictures of the same gestures. ...
The integration of physical movements, such as gestures, into learning holds potential for enhancing foreign language (L2) education. Uncovering whether actively performing gestures during L2 learning is more, or equally, effective compared to simply observing such movements is central to deepening our understanding of the efficacy of movement-based learning strategies. Here, we present a meta-analysis of seven studies containing 309 participants that compares the effects of gesture self-enactment and observation on L2 vocabulary learning. The results showed that gesture observation was just as effective for L2 learning as gesture enactment, based on free recall, cued L2 recognition, and cued native language recognition performance, with a large dispersion of true effect across studies. Gesture observation may be sufficient for inducing embodied L2 learning benefits, in support of theories positing shared mechanisms underlying enactment and observation. Future studies should examine the effects of gesture-based learning over longer time periods with larger sample sizes and more diverse word classes.
... (Alstad & Tkachenko, 2018, p. 259) Gestures and Body Enactment It was suggested that teachers use non-linguistic strategies such as spontaneous hand and arm gestures together with body enactment to foster a novel language understanding among children during classroom instruction (e.g., Zukow-Goldring et al., 1994). Researchers have found that gestures may improve a novel language recall and enhance the learning process (Church et al., 2004;Tellier, 2008). This finding is consistent with theories on multimodal storage in memory. ...
The CLIL pedagogical approach has put forward a notion of culture that goes beyond celebrating traditions and imitating the ways of living of stereotyped groups of native speakers. This challenging perception goes hand in hand with the societal need to promote intercultural understanding, which has been found to be at the core of severe social problems, such as social exclusion, gender inequality or racial discrimination. In this chapter, we will unveil the potential of literature to develop intercultural competence in pre-primary CLIL classrooms from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. The present contribution has a twofold objective, as it attempts to inform future research while also guiding classroom practice to promote CLIL intercultural education through literature. The last section of the chapter presents a real experience using Handa's Surprise in the pre-primary classroom in order to provide an authentic example of the use of children’s literature with intercultural purposes.
... (Alstad & Tkachenko, 2018, p. 259) Gestures and Body Enactment It was suggested that teachers use non-linguistic strategies such as spontaneous hand and arm gestures together with body enactment to foster a novel language understanding among children during classroom instruction (e.g., Zukow-Goldring et al., 1994). Researchers have found that gestures may improve a novel language recall and enhance the learning process (Church et al., 2004;Tellier, 2008). This finding is consistent with theories on multimodal storage in memory. ...
... The use and influence of gestures on learning are most commonly studied in mathematics classes (Cook et al., 2017;Goldin-Meadow et al., 1999 and foreign language vocabulary acquisition (Church et al., 2004;Huang et al., 2019;Macedonia et al., 2010;Sweller et al., 2020;Tellier, 2008) in one-on-one situations. In some studies, a group setting was used. ...
... In some studies, a group setting was used. Church et al. (2004), examined gesture use with a recorded video in a classroom setting, Huang et al. (2019), investigated word acquisition in a group setting of at least two individuals, Chikiwa (2021), observed gesture use of two teachers in a multilingual 11th-grade mathematics class, and Yohannan et al. (2021) aimed to facilitate spatial understanding of complex anatomical relationships in medical college students while lecturing. Yohannan et al. (2021) used a combination of iconic and deictic gestures in addition to traditional methods, that is, PowerPoint presentations or textbooks while teaching the intervention group and compared it to teaching the control with only traditional methods. ...
... This is in line with the findings by Alibali and Nathan (2012), Chikiwa (2021) as well as Valenzeno et al. (2003), who were able to show that teachers spontaneously produce a lot of gestures during class. But, unlike in these studies where teachers were not aware of the supportive effect of gesture use (e.g., Alibali et al., 2013;Church et al., 2004;Yeo et al., 2017), teachers in the present study purposefully used gestures to enhance academic vocabulary learning. In accordance with Yohannan et al. (2021) our findings demonstrate that teachers can be easily and effectively trained to use iconic gestures purposefully during lessons. ...
Learning academic vocabulary is a crucial task for all students, but especially challenging for students with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) and those who are multilingual. Following a participatory research strategy, we analyze whether iconic gestures can be integrated in teaching routines in an inclusive elementary school and whether the presentation of iconic gestures supports novel word learning over the period of four math lessons. One hundred and sixteen students (44% boys), the majority (91%) with SLCN, participated in the study. We conducted a control group design in eight classes with pre- and post-testing of a target academic vocabulary on the topic “Geometric surfaces and solids.” Results show a significant increase in the acquisition of the receptive and expressive target academic vocabulary for all students, but a predominance of expressive learning performance in favor of students who observed iconic gestures during lessons. Iconic gestures can be easily implemented into teaching, improve novel word learning in students with SLCN and serve as a cuing strategy for naming words in students with severe SLCN.
