Abstract
Non-verbal enrichment in the form of pictures or gesture can support word learning in first and foreign languages. The present study seeks to compare the effects of viewing pictures vs. imitating iconic gestures on learning second language (L2) vocabulary. In our study participants learned L2 words (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) together with a virtual, pedagogical agent. The to-be-learned items were either (i) enriched with pictures, or (ii) with gestures that had to be imitated, or (iii) without any non-verbal enrichment as control. Results showed that gesture imitation was particularly supportive for learning nouns, whereas pictures showed to be most beneficial for memorizing verbs. These findings, suggesting that the type of vocabulary learning strategy has to match with the type of linguistic material to be learned, have important educational implications for L2 classrooms and technology-enhanced tutoring systems.
Highlights
The integration of pedagogical agents into technology-enhanced tutoring systems has been under research for over 20 years, but results on learning gain have often been heterogeneous
The results of this study showed that when repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to the bilateral posterior motor cortices participants’ translation slowed down for those L2 words that had been learned with gesture enrichment, but not for words learned with picture enrichment
According to the Motor Activation Hypothesis (MAH), we hypothesize that gesture imitation leads to stronger activation of motor representations associated with the linguistic material than picture observation
Summary
The integration of pedagogical agents into technology-enhanced tutoring systems has been under research for over 20 years, but results on learning gain have often been heterogeneous (cf. Clarebout and Heidig, 2012; Schroeder et al, 2013; Johnson and Lester, 2016). The potential of the agent’s non-verbal gestures to support the learning process has attracted notice in the domain of math education (e.g., Anasingaraju et al, 2016; Cook et al, 2017), and for vocabulary learning (e.g., Bergmann and Macedonia, 2013). Studies directly comparing the two non-verbal types of enrichment provided unclear results. An exception is a recent study by Garcia-Gamez and Macizo (2019) in which a comparison of the effects of different types of gestures
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
