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Jun Zhao
Ph.D. Candidate
Second Language Acquisition and Teaching GIDP
2006 TESOL
(Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.)
Tampa, Florida
March 15 -18, 2006
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“Media as a Medium for Learning Gestures “
ABSTRACT
Gestures are often employed as communicative strategies by language learners (Gullberg, 1998; Kendon 2001; Kita, 2000; McCafferty, 2002, McNeill, 2003). Although instructors are generally aware of the communicative function of gestures and the fact that gestures are used differently across cultures, they may not focus on paralinguistic aspects of language in the classroom. By presenting evidences that language learners fail to demonstrate those culture-specific gestures as native speakers do, this paper argues for the importance of raising language learners’ awareness of such paralinguistic aspects. One methodology is to utilize media such as sitcoms to introduce gestures to language learners.
The current study indicates that Chinese speakers use gestures more often when speaking in English with Americans than speaking in Chinese with native Chinese speakers. Furthermore, gestures used by Chinese speakers when speaking in English do not necessarily resemble American English speakers’ uses of gesture. Lower proficiency level Chinese speakers of English draw more on gestures to assist them in being understood, and employ hand movements differently than do American English speakers.
Implications of this study indicate that gestures need to be explicitly introduced to raise students’ awareness of such usage, as gestural acquisition is individually based and not dependent on length of exposure to a culture and language. McCafferty & Ahmed (2000) suggest that language learners pick up gestural usage more easily when they are exposed to such usage naturally. One way to introduce and practice gestures in an ESOL/EFL classroom is to draw on media as a source of reference and visual aid. Sitcoms, due to worldwide syndication as well as short length, repetition, and character familiarity, offer a medium to present gestures in context. Non-Native English Speakers in TESOL (NNEST) in particular could benefit from incorporating sitcoms in EFL classrooms, as non-native speakers of English may not have an intuitive understanding of gestural use in the target language.
The paper also discusses applications based on research and offers specific suggestions about how to use clips of sitcoms in the classroom to familiarize students with examples of cross cultural gestural use.
References:
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Gullberg, M. (1998). Gesture as a Communication Strategy in Second Language Discourse: A Study of Learners of French and Swedish. Lund: Lund University Press.
Holler, J., & Beattie, G. (2003). Pragmatic Aspects of Representational Gestures: Do Speakers Use Them to Clarify Verbal Ambiguity for Listener? Gesture, 3 (2), 127-154.
Kendon, A. (2001). Review Article: Gesture as Communication Strategy. Semiotica, 135 (1/4), 191-209.
Kita, S. (2000). How representational gestures help speaking. In D. McNeill (Ed.), Language and gesture, (PP. 47-63). UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lazaraton, A. (2004). Gesture and Speech in the Vocabulary Explanations of One ESL Teacher: A Microanalytic Inquiry. Language Learning, 54 (1), 79-117.
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Abstract by L2 Learners. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, (pp.199-218). UK: Oxford University Press.
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Neu, J. (1990). Assessing the Role of Nonverbal Communication in the Acquisition of Communicative Competence in L2. In R. C. Scarcella, E. S. Anderson, & S. D. Krashen, (Eds.), Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language. (pp.121-138). Newbury House Publishers.
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