Poster #49 - Gesture Serves a Compensatory Role in Math Instruction for Children with Lower English Language Proficiency

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that gestures can promote learning across a range of academic domains, including on foundational math concepts like how to balance equations (e.g., Goldin-Meadow et al., 1999; McNeil, 2008; Novack et al., 2014). Previous work with mathematical equivalence paradigms has suggested that gestures may improve children’s learning outcomes in part because they can help to clarify the ambiguous meaning of the spoken instruction (e.g., Congdon et al., 2017). If this is one of the key underlying mechanisms of how gestures boost comprehension in instructional contexts, then gesture should be particularly beneficial for learners who are attending an English language school but are still in the process of acquiring English.

To date, the research on bilingualism or multilingualism and gesture has focused primarily on how gesture production rates are higher in bilingual children (e.g., Nicoladis et al., 2009; Smithson et al., 2011; Wermelinger et al., 2020) or on how gesture boosts narrative comprehension for bilinguals (Zielinski & Wakefield, 2021) rather than on how instructor gesture promotes learning for bilingual children. One paper investigated the effect of gesture on math learning for bilingual and monolingual children and found that it improved learning in both groups (Church et al., 2004), but the researchers did not measure differing levels of English proficiency within the bilingual group.

The purpose of the current experiment is to test whether gesture boosts learning outcomes for emergent bilinguals. To date, we have tested 33 second through fourth-grade children (target sample size, N = 80) with varying levels of English proficiency as measured by PPVT score (Range = 106-240). Sessions are run over Zoom and to be included in the study, children have to do poorly (0 or 1 correct out of 6) on a mathematical equivalence pre-test. After the pre-test, children are randomly assigned to watch pre-recorded instructional videos with either gestures or no gestures (see Figure 1). The audio file for both sets of instructional videos is identical. Children are then given a posttest and a follow-up test approximately one week later to measure retention or learning gains over time.

A binomial regression model controlling for participant age shows marginal but non-significant differences at posttest. At follow-up, however, this preliminary analysis shows a significant main effect of Condition (𝜷 = -6.01, p = 0.002) whereby children performed better after training in the Gesture condition overall. This is qualified by a PPVT score by Condition interaction (𝜷 = 0.03, p = 0.007) whereby Gesture instruction leads to much better learning outcomes at follow-up for children with lower English proficiency but training Condition is not an important predictor for children with higher English proficiency, who do equally well with both types of training (see Figure 2). Data collection is ongoing but these preliminary results suggest that gesture may play a compensatory role for emergent bilingual children with lower English language proficiency, and that this effect is strongest after a time delay.

Authors

• Eliza L Congdon, Williams College
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Menjivar