Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2014
Capstone Advisor
Linda Milosky
Honors Reader
Amanda Brown
Capstone Major
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Sciences and Engineering
Subject Categories
Speech and Rhetorical Studies
Abstract
As multilingualism grows throughout the world, so does the need to develop appropriate teaching methods for the multilingual population, especially during the crucial stages of language acquisition that occur during childhood. Bilingual children must develop two vocabularies concurrently; this is a difficult task for many, but non-speech expression of language such as gestures may aid the process of acquiring new words in one’s vocabulary. The mirror neuron system provides a physiological basis for the connection between language centers in the brain and the execution and observation of hand movements. To examine how using gestures affects children’s word learning, the researcher taught nouns that were science vocabulary words using a single-subject, alternating treatments design with two different conditions: speech production and speech and gesture production. The design was replicated across two children. The results suggested that gesture may have facilitated learning of new words in one child, but not the other. Reasons for such individual differences will be discussed.
Recommended Citation
Marks, Bailey Bell, "Talking Hands: Does gesture production help bilingual preschoolers learn words?" (2014). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 770.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/770
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