The Efficacy of Gesture on Second Language Pronunciation: An Exploratory Study of Handclapping as a Classroom Instructional Tool

Abstract

In this study, we examined the efficacy of gestures for the acquisition of L2 segmental phonology. Despite teachers’ frequent use of gestures in the classroom to teach pronunciation, the field lacks empirical support for this practice. We attempted to fill this gap by investigating the effects of handclapping on the development of L2 Japanese segmentals (long vowels, geminates, and moraic nasals). We assigned L1 English university students in beginning Japanese courses to one of two groups where they practiced pronouncing the targets with or without handclapping in the classroom. They also completed picture elicitation (production) and dictation (perception) tasks as pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests. The results show that, on the delayed perception posttest, only those who saw and performed handclapping maintained the instructional effect, indicating that the memory‐enhancing effect of gestures, at least in the form of handclapping, might reach the level of segmental phonology in L2 acquisition.

Listening to Songs and Singing Benefitted Initial Stages of Second Language Pronunciation but Not Recall of Word Meaning

“…However, the experimental task of repeating a string of words for 10 minutes without any clear sentential meaning lacked ecological validity and may have led to boredom. Finally, an experimental study by Baills, Zhang, and Prieto (2018) found that handclapping to the rhythmic structure of words improved L2 pronunciation and a recent experimental study in a classroom setting by Iizuka, Nakatsukasa, and Braver (2020) found that hand-clapping benefitted the perception of segmental phonology, suggesting a potential role for providing rhythmic support in the learning of pronunciation.…”

“…Further research will therefore be needed to explore the role of individual differences in L2 phonological learning, not only under the conditions examined here but also in other populations and under other phonological learning conditions. For example, rhythmic and melodic abilities could be analyzed separately to see if there are language-dependent preferences in terms of sound properties, as in the study by , and see Iizuka et al (2020).…”

Embodied modes in L2 French video reflections: Supporting metalinguistic awareness, organization, and community

“…It is useful to turn to a multimodal framework for the analysis of embodied modes, since the pre‐existing research on embodied modes stems primarily from the CA framework, in which researchers have examined how talk develops through interaction, typically with an emphasis on talk (Goodwin, 1986; ten Have, 2007). CA studies have articulated how teachers and students use predetermined gestures to teach and learn vocabulary (Belhiah, 2013; Regalla & Peker, 2015; Schneider & Evers, 2009) and pronunciation (Iizuka et al, 2020; Smotrova, 2015). Although this research has illuminated how language learners navigate their semiotic resources, little is known about how they use their bodies in nonscripted ways as they express themselves in the L2.…”

“…For example, in an intensive English university class, the instructor's use of deliberate nodding and tapping to emphasize prosody was imitated by the students (Smotrova, 2015). Likewise, in a university Japanese course, students who clapped their hands while learning pronunciation features (i.e., segmentals) performed more accurately on memory recall tests than students who did not clap (Iizuka et al, 2020).…”

“…The existing research on L2 embodied modes primarily focuses on how instructors leverage gestures in L2 teaching to improve student pronunciation (Iizuka et al, 2020; Smotrova, 2015), teach tense and aspect (Matsumoto & Dobs, 2017), and facilitate vocabulary learning (Huang et al, 2018). This research is largely founded in conversation analysis (CA) (Goodwin, 1986; ten Have, 2007)—an approach to analyzing “talk‐in‐interaction” in social settings—in which embodied modes are often explored tangentially to the surrounding spoken language.…”