Effects of Representational Gestures on Preschool Children’s Story Comprehension and Word Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58955/jecer.161548Keywords:
gesture, storytelling, word learning, story comprehensionAbstract
Gestures are in integral part of human communication and observing gestures during storytelling might increase recipients’ learning and memory because they add visual information to speech. In the present study, we examined the effects of representational gestures on preschool children’s story comprehension and word learning from a story. To do so, 89 three- to six-year-old German preschool children listened to a videotaped story either without gestures or with representational gestures. After the story presentation, story comprehension and receptive and expressive target-word tests were administered. Listening to a videotaped storytelling with gestures increased children’s receptive and expressive target-word learning as well as their story comprehension significantly compared to the version without gestures. The effects did not depend on children’s age. Including representational gestures during storytelling is a promising way for helping children to get a better grasp of spoken information and to acquire new words. Incorporating representational gestures into everyday storytelling or teaching routines offers a low-cost, low-effort method that can significantly enrich language input. Gestures might not only capture children's attention but also provide concrete visual scaffolding that helps making unfamiliar words and story elements more accessible and memorable.
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