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Cited by 56Language Development and DisordersHearing Impairment and CommunicationChild and Animal Learning Development

Beat gestures help preschoolers recall and comprehend discourse information

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Llanes-Coromina, Judith, Vilà-Giménez, Ingrid, Kushch, Olga, Borràs-Comes, Joan, Prieto, Pilar·2018·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
DOI 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.02.004
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Abstract

Although the positive effects of iconic gestures on word recall and comprehension by children have been clearly established, less is known about the benefits of beat gestures (rhythmic hand/arm movements produced together with prominent prosody). This study investigated (a) whether beat gestures combined with prosodic information help children recall contrastively focused words as well as information related to those words in a child-directed discourse (Experiment 1) and (b) whether the presence of beat gestures helps children comprehend a narrative discourse (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 51 4-year-olds were exposed to a total of three short stories with contrastive words presented in three conditions, namely with prominence in both speech and gesture, prominence in speech only, and nonprominent speech. Results of a recall task showed that (a) children remembered more words when exposed to prominence in both speech and gesture than in either of the other two conditions and that (b) children were more likely to remember information related to those words when the words were associated with beat gestures. In Experiment 2, 55 5- and 6-year-olds were presented with six narratives with target items either produced with prosodic prominence but no beat gestures or produced with both prosodic prominence and beat gestures. Results of a comprehension task demonstrated that stories told with beat gestures were comprehended better by children. Together, these results constitute evidence that beat gestures help preschoolers not only to recall discourse information but also to comprehend it.

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  • There is much research providing empirical support for the role of gestures in L2 learning for aspects such as speech comprehension, word memorization and pronunciation.

    “There is much research providing empirical support for the role of gestures in L2 learning for aspects such as speech comprehension [9,10], word memorization [11,12] and pronunciation [13–17].”

    From Can grammatical morphemes be taught? Evidence of gestures influencing second language procedural learning in middle childhood (2023) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Discussion and Conclusions (page unavailable) report that beat gestures helped children comprehend narratives, supporting the speech-comprehension portion of the sentence. The study concerns children acquiring their first language, not L2 learning; it does not establish a benefit for L2 speech comprehension. The citation’s placement beside speech comprehension does not attribute the word-memorization or pronunciation portions to this source. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Authors
Llanes-Coromina, J., Vilà-Giménez, I., Kushch, O., Borràs-Comes, J., & Prieto, P.
Affiliations
  • Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
  • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
  • Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
Corresponding author
Prieto, Pilar
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-08
Volume
172
Pages
168-188
ISSN
0022-0965 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jecp.2018.02.004
OpenAlex
W2796027285
Cited by
56
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4
FWCI
13.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Hearing Impairment and Communication
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
beat gestures, prosody, iconic gestures, word recall, narrative comprehension, discourse comprehension, preschool children, gesture-speech integration, prominence
MeSH terms
Child, Preschool, Female, Gestures, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Speech, Speech Perception, Comprehension

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