With this paper, we seek to add our observations to this corpus, using the data collected under the case study of a Cantonese learner of English, to reflect on a number of existing theoretical constructs. These variables are only controlled in a handful of longitudinal studies comparing speakers’ gestures at two or more points in the proficiency continuum. The many variables to be considered obscure the role of proficiency and the integration of gesture-speech-idea in L2 speakers. Aside from idiosyncratic and cultural variations, differences in language type, such as syllabic duration and functional load and syntactical structure, as well as differences in the proficiency of the speaker are likely to affect the production of gestures in terms of their frequency and function. Most studies comparing the same individuals gesturing in their L2 and in the mother tongue (L1) report a higher frequency of gestures in the L2, however, the reason for this difference is not yet clear. Gestures in learners of second languages (L2) are still an understudied field. Respect to gesture rates accompanying speech in English. The results also suggest that the proficiency level of foreign and second language learners ofĮnglish determines the degree to which they use communicative strategies especially with
The results showed that students of intermediate level made use of gestures, bothĭeictic and iconic gesture, at a higher rate as compared to students of upper intermediate level. Groups were asked to describe a photograph and to engage in a 10-minute conversation with the (i.e., deictic gesture as well as iconic gesture), were investigated. Similarities and differences between these two groups of students in terms of their use of gestures This hypothesis was tested in the present study through aĬomparative analysis between 10 upper intermediate and 10 intermediate level students. Students’ proficiency level is closely related to the gesture rates accompanying speech While results show that the gesture-speech relationship is not significantly influenced by different language backgrounds of a speaker, speakers at a high proficiency level tended to use significantly more gestures that serve reinforcing and integrating functions, whereas less proficient speakers produced more gestures as complements and other gestures that have no obvious relationship to the conceptual content of their accompanying speech. The gesture-speech relationship was shown to fall into six discrete categories: reinforcing, integrating, supplementary, complementary, contradictory, and others. The findings demonstrate similar preferences of gesture-speech production by speakers despite different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The analysis of the semantic categories of the co-gesture speech demonstrates that speech most commonly co-occurs with gestures in the categories of moving, coming and going, general objects, numbers, location and direction, and time. This study investigates face-to-face interaction among Taiwanese, Indonesian, and Indian speakers utilizing a multimodal corpus linguistics approach to examine semantic categories of speech that most frequently co-occur with gestures, and whether the gesture-speech relationship is to a certain extent influenced by language/culture backgrounds or English proficiency levels of a speaker. Thus, both type of gesture and proficiency of speaker need to be considered when accounting for how gesture and speech are used in a narrative context. In contrast, less proficient speakers produced concrete deictic gestures and iconic gestures whether or not referents were lexically specified in speech.
Our findings showed that proficient speakers produced concrete deictic gestures for referents that were not specified in speech, and iconic gestures for referents that were specified in speech, suggesting that these two types of gestures bear different kinds of semantic relations with speech. Their speech and gestures were transcribed and coded. Two groups of speakers who had different levels of English proficiency were asked to retell a story in English.
This study examines whether concrete deictic gestures (i.e., gestures that point to physical entities) bear a different kind of relation to speech, and whether this relation is influenced by the language proficiency of the speakers. Previous research has found that iconic gestures (i.e., gestures that depict the actions, motions or shapes of entities) identify referents that are also lexically specified in the co-occurring speech produced by proficient speakers.