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Symbolic gesturing in language development: A case study

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Abstract

Describes the spontaneous development of symbolic gestures in a normal female infant from 12.5 to 17.5 mo of age. 13 gestures depicting objects, events, and qualities were developed, the majority in the context of structured routines involving adults. 16 additional symbolic gestures were purposefully taught to S by adults. All 29 gestures occurred frequently and were used flexibly to refer to real items and pictures. Combinations of signs with other signs and words were also noted; their initial appearance coincided with the advent of 2-word combinations. Despite the heavy use of symbolic gestures, vocal development was advanced, an indication that gesturing is not necessarily a result or cause of poor vocal skills. Data support H. Werner and B. Kaplan's (1963) contention that sensorimotor behaviors are natural candidates for early labeling. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... These include, first, the categorical distinction between communicative gestures and pretend play, and second, the exclusion of gestures performed with an object in-hand. For example, Acredolo and Goodwyn (1985) excluded gestures motivated "purely by enjoyment" as opposed to those motivated by the "intention to name" (p. 42), making a distinction between pretend play and gesture out of concern about communicative intent. ...
... Studies of early language development to date indicate the production of iconic gestures emerges relatively late compared to when children begin pointing and producing their first words. Pointing tends to precede the onset of first words around 11 months (Butterworth, 2003;Carpenter, et al., 1998;Leung & Rheingold, 1981;Lock, et al., 1990), and despite large variation in reported observations of iconic gestures, most studies agree it occurs after children begin producing their first words from 12-13 months, with many studies observing iconic gestures significantly later (Acredolo & Goodwyn 1985, 1988Bates, 1976;Bates & Hammel, 1979;Furman, et al., 2012;Iverson, et al., 1994;Nicoladis, et al., 1999;Özçalışkan & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Table 2 presents some reported ages of iconic gestures observed in different studies, which range from 12.5 months to 24 months. ...
... It is possible that some studies observed iconic gestures later because they used narrow definitions to identify them. Five out of the 10 studies in Table 1 excluded gestures with objects (Acredolo & Goodwyn 1985, 1988Capirici, et al., 2005;Namy, et al., 2008;Özçalışkan & Goldin Meadow, 2011). Additionally, some reported ages for iconic gesture production may be artifacts of study designs that were not seeking to identify the onset of iconic gestures and so did not test younger participants. ...
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Adults across cultures produce iconic gestures, but little is known about the emergence of iconic gesturing in infants. This study aimed to identify plausible instances of infants’ earliest iconic gestures to learn more about their form and the interactional contexts in which they emerge. We identified the first 10 iconic gestures produced by five English-speaking children in a naturalistic longitudinal video corpus. In identifying gestures, we cast a wide net that included gestures produced during pretend play and those performed with objects in-hand. Analyses of gestures’ form and context show that children produced their first iconic gesture between 12 and 20 months, the great majority of which depicted actions. We found mixed evidence suggesting that children may produce conceptually less-challenging gestures earlier. Infants produced more object-in-hand gestures than empty-hand gestures to depict transitive actions but also more imagined-object than body-part-as-object gestures. Most gestures were produced independently of adult models, and many demonstrated innovation. Overall, within natural interactions, infants demonstrated impressive representational abilities and did not always rely on parental scaffolding. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the interactional context when conducting research on the development of gesture.
... Some studies suggest that iconic gestures are produced as early as 11-to 12-months (L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1985;L. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1988), while others suggest that iconic gestures only emerge from between 22 and 27 months of age (Behne, Carpenter, and Tomasello 2014;Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011). ...
... Acredolo and Goodwyn 1988), while others suggest that iconic gestures only emerge from between 22 and 27 months of age (Behne, Carpenter, and Tomasello 2014;Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011). For example, L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn (1985) found that 12-months-olds raise their arm to mean "big" while Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow (2011) reported a similar gesture (holding the hand above head to indicate "tall"), only emerging around 26 months. The resulting discrepancy may be due to methodological differences: while the first study (L. ...
... The resulting discrepancy may be due to methodological differences: while the first study (L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1985) primarily reported on gesture production by 11month-olds from individual case studies and interviews with caregivers, the second study (Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011) analyzed direct video recordings of infants aged 14-34 months. ...
Article
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Speech and co‐speech gestures always go hand in hand. Whether we find the precursors of these co‐speech gestures in infants before they master their native language still remains an open question. Except for deictic gestures, there is little agreement on the existence of iconic, non‐referential and conventional gestures before children start producing their first words. Here, we bridge this knowledge gap by leveraging an ethological method already established for describing speech independent gestures in nonhuman primates, to analyze the spontaneous gestures produced by infants when interacting with their caregivers. We manually annotated video recordings of infant‐caregiver interactions (26 h) from the CHILDES platform , to describe the gesture forms, types and functions in six infants from 12 to 15 months of age. We describe 62 gesture forms in the preverbal repertoire. These were categorized into deictic, iconic, non‐referential and conventional gesture types, similar to co‐speech gesture types. We also find that the type‐function relation of preverbal gestures map similarly to type‐meaning relation of co‐speech gestures. Taken together, our results illustrate linguistic properties of infant gestures in the absence of speech, suggesting them to be precursors of co‐speech gestures.
... Some studies suggest that iconic gestures are produced as early as 11-to 12-months (L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1985;L. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1988), while others suggest that iconic gestures only emerge from between 22 and 27 months of age (Behne, Carpenter, and Tomasello 2014;Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011). ...
... Acredolo and Goodwyn 1988), while others suggest that iconic gestures only emerge from between 22 and 27 months of age (Behne, Carpenter, and Tomasello 2014;Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011). For example, L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn (1985) found that 12-months-olds raise their arm to mean "big" while Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow (2011) reported a similar gesture (holding the hand above head to indicate "tall"), only emerging around 26 months. The resulting discrepancy may be due to methodological differences: while the first study (L. ...
... The resulting discrepancy may be due to methodological differences: while the first study (L. P. Acredolo and Goodwyn 1985) primarily reported on gesture production by 11month-olds from individual case studies and interviews with caregivers, the second study (Özçalışkan and Goldin-Meadow 2011) analyzed direct video recordings of infants aged 14-34 months. ...
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Speech and co-speech gestures always go hand in hand. Whether we find the precursors of these co-speech gestures in infants before they master their native language still remains an open question. Except for deictic gestures, there is little agreement on the existence of iconic, non-referential and symbolic gestures before children start producing their first words. Here, we bridge this knowledge gap by leveraging an ethological method already established for describing speech independent gestures in nonhuman primates, to analyse the spontaneous gestures produced by infants when interacting with their caregivers. We manually annotated video recordings of infant-caregiver interactions (26h) from the CHILDES platform, to describe the gesture forms, types and functions in six infants from 12 to 15 months of age. We describe 62 gesture forms in the pre-speech repertoire. These were categorised into deictic, iconic, non-referential and symbolic gesture types, similar to co-speech gesture types. We also find that the type-function relation of pre-speech gestures map similarly to type-meaning relation of co-speech gestures. Taken together, our results illustrate linguistic properties of infant gestures in the absence of speech, suggesting them to be precursors of co-speech gestures.
... Aunque la enseñanza de lengua de señas en educación inicial es una vía poco explorada, es posible mencionar algunos estudios que contribuyen a respaldar la pertinencia de la presente investigación. Schiff-Myers (1982) y Acredolo y Goodwyn (1985Goodwyn ( , 1988 sugieren que el uso simultáneo de lenguas de signos y oral con infantes no afecta el desarrollo del lenguaje oral, sino que podría favorecerlo. Aunque, posteriormente, Goodwyn y Acredolo (1993) prefieren mantener una actitud crítica ante estos resultados. ...
... Con relación a la pertinencia, se deben mencionar las diferentes posiciones que se han logrado identificar al respecto. En primer lugar, a Schiff-Myers (1982), Acredolo y Goodwyn (1985) y quienes afirman que los niños pequeños que aprenden lengua de señas no sufren ningún tipo de afectación en el desarrollo del lenguaje. Luego, Seal y Depaolis (2014) concluyen que la exposición a la lengua de señas no produce diferencias estadísticas significativa. ...
Article
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Las personas sordas se comunican por medio de lengua de señas y de intérpretes, y las personas oyentes se comunican por medio de lenguaje oral y escrito, pero desconocen la lengua de señas. La presente investigación desea contribuir a la reducción de esta brecha comunicativa por medio de la enseñanza de lengua de señas a los niños pequeños. El artículo se propone examinar la pertinencia de la enseñanza de la lengua de señas desde la educación inicial en Ecuador. Se ha aplicado un diseño cuantitativo, no experimental, transversal, no probabilístico. La técnica fue la encuesta y el instrumento la “Encuesta sobre la necesidad de aprendizaje de la lengua de señas”, cuya validez y fiabilidad proceden del juicio de expertos y de una prueba piloto aplicada a 189 participantes. La muestra no probabilística de 1541 personas procede de 14 instituciones educativas del Ecuador, que participaron en línea. Según los resultados, cerca de las tres cuartas partes de la población consultada considera pertinente la enseñanza de lengua de señas desde el nivel inicial de educación. Aquello sugeriría la necesidad de una política de Estado que permita la modificación del currículo vigente y la formación del cuerpo docente con esta finalidad.
... Del resto, un uso molto consapevole del gesto nel percorso di acquisizione linguistica si ritrova nel ben noto Programma Baby Signs®, sviluppato negli anni '80 da Susan Goodwyn e Linda Acredolo e introdotto in Italia nel 2015 9 . Esso sfrutta l'uso di gesti/segni per facilitare la comunicazione dei bambini preverbali; questo approccio ha dimostrato di migliorare le interazioni comunicative e facilitare lo sviluppo del linguaggio (Acredolo, Goodwyn, 1985; 10 . L'accostamento alla lingua inglese basato su un ricorso amplificato al canale visivo-gestuale (presentato all'interno del presente contributo) è sotto molto aspetti accostabile al Programma Baby Signs®, sebbene vi siano delle differenze sostanziali: il Programma Baby Signs® si attua con bambini prevalentemente di età compresa fra 0 e 18/24 mesi, mentre in questo caso l'età dei bambini va da 3 mesi a 8 anni, con la possibilità (ad oggi non sperimentata ma presa in considerazione) di estendere il metodo a fasce di età più alte; inoltre, il Programma Baby Signs® usa il gesto/segno come ponte verso la L1, mentre nel caso in oggetto la lingua obiettivo è una LS (e, potenzialmente, una L2). ...
Article
Full-text available
Ad oggi in Italia il contatto con la lingua inglese fin dalla prima infanzia è piuttosto diffuso, sebbene la normativa lo renda obbligatorio solo a partire dalla scuola primaria; diverse strategie didattiche (in relazione ai diversi ordini e gradi scolastici) sono state definite. Lo studio propone un approccio basato su un ricorso “amplificato” al canale visivo-gestuale, canale presente in tutte le lingue in virtù della multimodalità. Il punto di partenza è il concetto di utterance visible actiondi Kendon, che elimina la netta differenziazione fra gesto e segno: data dunque la continuità tra gesti coverbali e segni delle lingue dei segni, con particolare riferimento alla LIS (Lingua dei Segni Italiana), vengono prese in considerazione le potenzialità glottodidattiche dell’accostare il gesto/segno alla parola in inglese, sfruttando l’iconicità e l’embodied cognition. L’approccio è stato sperimentato all’interno di un progetto condotto in provincia di Ragusa nell’a.s. 2022/2023, con destinatari di età compresa fra 3 mesi e 8 anni. Le attività proposte mostrano un miglioramento nella comprensione e produzione della lingua inglese. Il modello si pone come un approccio inclusivo e integrato, in linea con una visione gestaltica dell’educazione linguistica. An approach based on the ‘amplified’ use of the visual-gestural channel To date, in Italy, contact with the English language from early childhood is quite widespread, although the legislation makes it obligatory only starting from primary school. Various didactic strategies, in relation to the different school levels, have been defined. The study proposes an approach based on an ‘amplified’ use of the visual-gestural channel, which can be found in all languages thanks to multimodality. The starting point is Kendon’s concept of utterance visible action, which eliminates the clear differentiation between gesture and sign. Given the continuity between coverbal gestures and signs of sign languages, with particular reference to LIS (Italian Sign Language), the glottodidactic potential of combining the gesture/sign with the word in English, exploiting iconicity and embodied cognition, is taken into consideration. The approach was tested within a project conducted in the province of Ragusa in the s.y. 2022/2023, with participants aged between 3 months and 8 years. The proposed activities show an improvement in understanding and producing the English language. The model turns out to be an inclusive and integrated approach, in line with a Gestalt vision of language education.
... Building on previous research Rodríguez, 2009;Rodríguez & Palacios, 2007), we categorized gestures according to their semiotic complexity and type (see Table 2). Only communicative ostensive and indexical gestures were considered; representational (Acredolo & Goodwyn, 1985) and private gestures were excluded . ...
Article
Research on gesture development has mostly focused on home environments. Little is known about early communicative development in other relevant contexts, such as early-year-schools. These settings, rich in diverse educative situations, objects, and communicative partners, provide a contrast to parent–child interactions, complementing our understanding of gesture development. This study aims to describe the development of the first gestures in the infant classrooms of early-years-schools, focusing on ostensive gestures of showing and giving—their emergence, communicative functions, and relation to the subsequent emergence of pointing. We conducted a longitudinal, observational investigation analyzing the gestures of 21 children (7–13 months). Over 7 months, we observed and registered children’s daily interactions in the classroom, employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to analyze the types and functions of their gestures. We found a significant increase and diversification of gesture types and functions with age. Gestures followed a proximal–distal developmental course. Ostensive gestures were the earliest and most prevalent gestures observed. There was a correlation between the frequency of these gestures, with ostensive gestures fulfilling communicative functions later observed in pointing. Our qualitative analysis revealed the progressive construction of ostensive gestures into spontaneous, complex, and conventional forms of communication. These results highlight the important role of ostensive gestures in early communicative development, paving the way for distal communication through pointing and relating to the origin of intentional communication. More broadly, these findings have significant implications for early educational practices and show the value of conducting research on developmental processes in early education. Full paper available on: https://rdcu.be/dRJ1A
... Les gestes symboliques acquièrent donc des formes de plus en plus conventionnelles et, d'après Guidetti (2002), cette conventionnalité est le résultat d'un comportement social en lien avec une certaine intentionnalité communicative. Acredolo & Goodwyn (1985), qui analysent l'emploi de gestes symboliques 5 avec un rôle de support à la communication chez des enfants âgés de 12 à 18 mois, soulignent l'utilité du geste iconique pour représenter des objets ou des états personnels que l'enfant n'est pas encore capable d'exprimer par la seule modalité verbale. ...
Thesis
The gestures we use while we speak constitute a communicative tool which is inseparable from the verbal component of speech. It has been shown that the use of gestures has a positive effect on lexical retrieval and speech planning during discourse production in children with developmental language disorder. Gestures vary in form and function, according to speech genre, but their production could also depend on the lexical affiliate’s place within the different possible syntactic structures used in an utterance. The aim of this study is to analyze the multimodal behaviors of 23 children with language disorder and 23 typically developing children aged 7 to 10. We focused on whether the way the two groups build their discourse – and combine verbal syntax and gestures – reflects differences in relation to the presence of the language disorder, its severity as well as the type of activity in which the child is involved. Children were videotaped as they performed two different types of descriptions, a narrative task, a guessing game and in more spontaneous interaction with an adult. We analyzed gestures according to their form and function, and utterances according to their syntactic structure. The articulation of gesture and their lexical affiliates was also studied. Results show a different degree of multimodal complexity depending not only on the presence of the language disorder but also on the type of activity and discourse genre. At the gestural level, while TD children use gestures to enhance their utterances, DLD children also use them to compensate for language difficulties. Different multimodal profiles can be identified depending on how each child articulates gestures and the syntactic structures of their verbal productions.
Article
Studies of young children's communication with adults and of their engagement in make-believe play have typically been conducted in parallel, with little dialogue between the two research programs. This review seeks to underline close connections between children's communication with adults and the emergence of the imagination, especially among 2- and 3-year-olds. Young children's ability to imagine currently uncertain possibilities shapes the information-seeking questions that they put to other people. Their ability to imagine as-yet unrealized but desirable possibilities shapes the requests that they make of other people. In each case, children appraise the responses that they receive. In the absence of answers that resolve their information-seeking questions, they repeat their questions. In the absence of compliance with their requests, they repeat their requests. By implication, from an early age, children seek information and help from other people with as-yet unknown or unrealized possibilities in mind.
Book
This handbook offers an in-depth exploration of the distinctive features of the play, development and learning of children from birth to three years old. Key theoretical ideas relating to social, emotional, cognitive and physical development are discussed in relation to everyday practice, offering a wealth of information and guidance on working with this unique age group. The book emphasises the connections between all aspects of a child’s experience and development; addressing key questions of what babies and young children need, enjoy and have a right to experience. It demonstrates how early years educators can develop their practice and organise their provision in a way that is positive for babies and young children and their families. Focusing on the holistic nature of early development, chapters explore the following: The importance of interactions and relationships between educators and children How to develop a holistic pedagogy that gives equal consideration to children’s care, play and learning The value of the connections that children make with the world around them, and how educators can create an environment conducive to nurturing these connections Observation and self-evaluation of practice and provision Each chapter features case studies, links to key aspects of practice and practical tasks to help readers apply the ideas to their own context. The book is accompanied by an extensive companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/Manning-Morton) containing video explainers, reflection points, practice tasks, downloadable resources, quizzes and more. Opening a window on what it is like to be a baby or young child in an early years setting, this is an essential tool for all early years educators and students on a wide range of early years courses. It will also be of interest to parents.
Article
Communicative development can be better understood by examining the diversity of gestures and how various forms of gestures are interlinked in their developmental origins—their genealogy. To draw attention to the differences and interrelations among forms of gestures we group gestures into three families based on their developmental origins: 1) action-based gestures that develop from infants’ spontaneous actions that others respond to; 2) conventional gestures; and 3) iconic gestures. Although these diverse gestures are acquired through somewhat different developmental pathways, we argue that they develop in the context of shared experience within social routines. What differs is the relative role of the caregiver and child in initiating the routine. In viewing communicative development in this way, we show the importance of basing our investigations on an adequate conception of meaning in order to recognize the similarity in the underlying processes involved in early communicative development.
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