The ability of new Canadians to decode gestures generated by Canadians of Anglo-Celtic backgrounds

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to generate and validate a series of gestures used by Canadians in a variety of social situations and to test the robustness of these gestures. There were 100 participants, consisting of 3 sample populations. Sample 1A generated the 25 gestures used in the study, sample 1B were models who demonstrated the gestures in front of a camera, sample 2 were Canadian-born, and sample 3 were foreign-born new Canadian students taking classes in English as a Second Language. These new Canadians came from either contact-oriented, cultures, such as Latin and South American, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries, or they came from noncontactoriented cultures, such as Japan China and Hong Kong. Overall, they were in Canada for less than one year. The sample of gestures generated by the Canadian-born participants showed a high degree of intracultural validation. Although the Canadian-born population had significantly higher decoding and recognition scores, new Canadians from contact and noncontact-oriented cultures also achieved relatively high decoding and recognition scores. The closer the cultural-linguistic group to Canadians, the greater the ability to recognize the Canadian generated gestures.