Abstract
Language and gesture are highly interdependent systems that reciprocally influence each other. For example, performing a gesture when learning a word or a phrase enhances its retrieval compared to pure verbal learning. Although the enhancing effects of co-speech gestures on memory are known to be robust, the underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we summarize the results of behavioral and neuroscientific studies. They indicate that the neural representation of words consists of complex multimodal networks connecting perception and motor acts that occur during learning. In this context, gestures can reinforce the sensorimotor representation of a word or a phrase, making it resistant to decay. Also, gestures can favor embodiment of abstract words by creating it from scratch. Thus, we propose the use of gesture as a facilitating educational tool that integrates body and mind.
Highlights
There were other opinions in the field sustaining that child language acquisition and adult foreign language learning are fundamentally different (Bley-Vroman 1990), the mainstream followed the mentalistic view of a core grammar present in the learners’ minds
The results showed that participants memorized the largest number of words in the speech + congruent gesture mode, followed by the repeated speech mode, and the least number of words was memorized when they were accompanied by an incongruent gesture
The results showed significantly better memory performance for iconic gestures than for meaningless gestures in the short- and long-term, indicating that enhancement does not come from pure physical activity complementing the verbal information
Summary
They do this to illustrate or to emphasize what they say (Hostetter 2011). People trying to express themselves in a foreign language make use of gestures. Learners of a foreign language express their provenience in intercultural settings through the gestures they use (Gullberg & McCafferty 2008; McCafferty 2008; McCafferty & Stam 2008). Gestures accompanying foreign language items enhance their memorability (Quinn-Allen 1995; Macedonia 2003; Tellier 2008) and delay their forgetting. Why this happens is the question we will discuss in this paper.
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