Gesture use of Korean infants at 14 months predicts their language skills at 36 months

• In Event: Nonverbal communication

Abstract

Children start using gesture to communicate with others before they can speak (Goldin-Meadow, 1998). Despite increasing efforts to study gesture use in diverse contexts (e.g., Kishimoto, 2017; Salomo & Liszkowski, 2013), most of our knowledge on the role of gesture is largely based on populations of Western countries. Research in the U.S. and other Western countries shows that early gesture use by children is an important predictor of children’s later language development (e.g., Rowe, 2000; Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009). In this study, we aim to add to the growing body of international research by examining gesture use in South Korea, a context rarely examined in previous research. Specifically, we: 1) describe variations in gesture use of Korean infants and their mothers, and 2) examine the predictive relation between early gesture use and later language skills.

We used the data from Hansol Education Research Center’s longitudinal study examining the experiences and development of Korean children. A sub-sample of 31 infants (12 girls) and mothers who participated in two laboratory visits was included in the current study. During the first visit (Mean_age = 14.8 months, Range = 12-16 months), mother-infant dyads participated in a 10-minute free play session in a laboratory playroom. The interactions were video-recorded and transcribed verbatim using the Computerized Language ANalysis (CLAN) program. Mothers’ and infants’ gesture use was coded following Iverson and Goldin-Meadow (2005), and Rowe and Goldin-Meadow (2009) to capture both frequencies of different gesture categories (e.g., pointing, nodding) and different meanings conveyed by gesture (i.e., gesture type). During the second visit (Age = 36 months), children were assessed using the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test (Kim et al., 2009), a standardized test of the Korean vocabulary.

The results showed that similar to prior research in other cultural contexts (e.g., Bates et al., 1979), both Korean mothers and infants used a wide range of gestures, mostly relying on deictic gesture, or gesture that is used to indicate a person or an object in the immediate context (e.g., pointing, giving, showing). Korean mothers and children in the sample also used gestures that are not commonly observed in other cultures, such as bowing to show gratitude, providing evidence for culturally specific socialization that starts with preverbal children. Furthermore, mothers’ gesture types was positively correlated with children’s gesture types, suggesting that mothers who gestured to convey more diverse meanings during the play session had children who also gestured to convey more diverse meanings. The results from a set of regression analyses indicated that even after controlling for mother’s language and gesture input, infants’ gesture types at 14 months predicted their vocabulary skills at 36 months, and in particular, children’s pointing, but not giving and showing, was a significant predictor of their later vocabulary skills (Table 1).

The findings from this study identify gestures found specifically in the Korean context and add to the growing body of international research on the important role of gesture use—particularly, the role of pointing—in children’s early social interaction and language development.

Authors

• So Yeon Shin, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Meredith L. Rowe, Harvard University

• Hyun Suk Lee