For [livejournal.com profile] velvetpage

May. 11th, 2005 11:33 pm
athelind: (Default)
[personal profile] athelind
Hand Gestures and Linguistic Development
Summary @ BoingBoing
Full Article @ ScienceDaily

Date: 2005-05-12 11:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Thanks! I read the short one, but I'll have to save the long one for later. :)

Date: 2005-05-12 01:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Hmm. . . the full article wasn't much more informative. This is interesting, though. I've been using gestures in French classes for several years now, and it works. But I link them to meanings - each gesture has a different meaning. The kids who make the effort to make the gestures always, always recall the vocabulary better. The more dramatic the student, the more likely they are to acquire the vocabulary.

The research has a lot of applications for parents and caregivers of young children. The recent research has suggested that signing to a baby improves language acquisition dramatically and reduces frustration as well, since many signs are more accessible than the words to which they relate. Now, it would appear that simply encouraging kids to use their hands when they talk, without any meaning attached, will help them recall the words they want.

I would love to see more research into younger kids, especially the toddler set, and into applications for bilingual education. (Are you sensing any correlations with my life, here? :) Also, ways to make gestures and gestural language acquisition more accessible to boys.

I wonder if there's a correlation between talkativeness on a societal level and the amount of hand gesturing common in those languages? I'm thinking Italian, here. I've never known a quiet Italian, and all of them use their hands to speak more than most other cultures.

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