Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-27T15:05:37.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

OBSERVING AND PRODUCING DURATIONAL HAND GESTURES FACILITATES THE PRONUNCIATION OF NOVEL VOWEL-LENGTH CONTRASTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2020

Peng Li Open the ORCID record for Peng Li [Opens in a new window] ,
Florence Baills  and
Pilar Prieto
Peng Li*
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Florence Baills
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Pilar Prieto
Affiliation:
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) Universitat Pompeu Fabra
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peng Li, Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: peng.li@upf.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While empirical studies have shown the beneficial role of observing and producing hand gestures mimicking pitch features in the learning of L2 tonal or intonational contrasts, mixed results have been obtained for the use of gestures encoding durational contrasts at the perceptual level. This study investigates the potential benefits of horizontal hand-sweep gestures encoding durational features for boosting the perception and production of nonnative vowel-length contrasts. In a between-subjects experiment with a pretest–posttest design, 50 Catalan participants without any knowledge of Japanese practiced perceiving and producing minimal pairs of Japanese disyllabic words featuring vowel-length contrasts in one of two conditions, namely with gestures or without them. Pretest and posttest consisted of the completion of identical vowel-length identification and imitation tasks. The results showed that while participants improved equally at posttest across the two conditions in the identification task, the Gesture group obtained a larger improvement than the No Gesture group in the imitation task. These results corroborate the claim that producing hand gestures encoding prosodic properties of speech may help naïve learners to learn novel phonological contrasts in a foreign language.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , December 2020 , pp. 1015 - 1039
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The authors sincerely thank Misa Fukukawa, Yosuke Nakano, and Ingrid Vilà-Giménez for their participation in creating the materials and Yuan Zhang for her assistance in conducting the experiment. Many thanks also to Lorraine Baqué, Joan Carles Mora, and Kazuya Saito for their comments and suggestions on the first draft of this article. Special thanks also go to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors, Susan Gass and Elizabeth Huntley, for invaluable comments and feedback.

This research was supported by funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FFI2015-66533-P) and the Generalitat de Catalunya projects (2014 SGR-925 and 2017 SGR-971). The second author has a predoctoral research grant awarded by the Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

References

REFERENCES

Aliaga-Garcia, C., Mora, J. C., & Cerviño-Povedano, E. (2010). Phonological short-term memory and L2 speech learning in adulthood. In Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, K., Wrembel, M., and Kul, M. (Eds). Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (pp. 12–18). New Sounds. http://ifa.amu.edu.pl/newsounds/files/proceedings/proceedings_quotable_version.pdfGoogle Scholar
Allen, L. (1995). The effects of emblematic gestures on the development and access of mental representations of French expressions. The Modern Language Journal, 79, 521–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baese-Berk, M. M., & Samuel, A. G. (2016). Listeners beware: Speech production may be bad for learning speech sounds. Journal of Memory and Language, 89, 23–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baills, F., Suárez-González, N., González-Fuente, S., & Prieto, P. (2019). Observing and producing pitch gestures facilitates the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones and words. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41, 33–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baills, F., Zhang, Y., & Prieto, P. (2018). Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from Catalan and Chinese learners of French. In Klessa, K., Bachan, J., Wagner, A., Karpiński, M., & Śledziński, D. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 853–857). International Speech Communication Association. https://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2018-172.Google Scholar
Baker, W. (2008). Social, experiential and psychological factors affecting L2 dialect acquisition. In Bowles, M., Foote, R., Perpiñán, S., & Bhatt, R. (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2007 Second Language Forum (pp. 187–198). Cascadilla.Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2013). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 6.0.28) [Computer software]. http://www.praat.orgGoogle Scholar
Boll-Avetisyan, N., Bhatara, A., & Höhle, B. (2017). Effects of musicality on the perception of rhythmic structure in speech. Laboratory Phonology, 8, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boll-Avetisyan, N., Bhatara, A., Unger, A., Nazzi, T., & Höhle, B. (2016). Effects of experience with L2 and music on rhythmic grouping by French listeners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19, 971–986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, A. R., Chang, C. B., & Karuzis, V. P. (2016). Pitch ability as an aptitude for tone learning. Language Learning, 66, 774–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casasanto, D., & Boroditsky, L. (2008). Time in the mind: Using space to think about time. Cognition, 106, 579–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chobert, J., & Besson, M. (2013). Musical expertise and second language learning. Brain Sciences, 3, 923–940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Cooper, A., & Wang, Y. (2012). The influence of linguistic and musical experience on Cantonese word learning. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 131, 4756–4769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dankovičová, J., House, J., Crooks, A., & Jones, K. (2007). The relationship between musical skills, music training, and intonation analysis skills. Language and Speech, 50, 177–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fortkamp, M. B. M. (2000). Working memory capacity and L2 speech production: An exploration study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.Google Scholar
Gluhareva, D., & Prieto, P. (2017). Training with rhythmic beat gestures benefits L2 pronunciation in discourse-demanding situations. Language Teaching Research, 21, 609–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2010). When gesture does and does not promote learning. Language and Cognition, 2, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2011). Learning through gesture. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2, 595–607.Google ScholarPubMed
Gullberg, M. (2006). Some reasons for studying gesture and second language acquisition (Hommage à Adam Kendon). International Review of Applied Linguistics, 44, 103–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannah, B., Wang, Y., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (2016). Cross-modal association between auditory and visuospatial information in Mandarin tone perception. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140, 3225–3225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirata, Y., & Kelly, S. D. (2010). Effects of lips and hands on auditory learning of second-language speech sounds. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 298–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirata, Y., Kelly, S. D., Huang, J., & Manansala, M. (2014). Effects of hand gestures on auditory learning of second-language vowel length contrasts. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57, 2090–2101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hudson, N. (2011). Teacher gesture in a post-secondary English as a second language classroom: A sociocultural approach (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Nevada.Google Scholar
IBM Corporation. (2016). IBM SPSS statistics for Windows (version 24.0) [Computer software]. IBM Corporation.Google Scholar
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, 137–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., Bailey, A., & Hirata, Y. (2017). Metaphoric gestures facilitate perception of intonation more than length in auditory judgments of non-native phonemic contrasts. Collabra: Psychology, 3, 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., Hirata, Y., Manansala, M., & Huang, J. (2014). Exploring the role of hand gestures in learning novel phoneme contrasts and vocabulary in a second language. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, S. D., McDevitt, T., & Esch, M. (2009). Brief training with co-speech gesture lends a hand to word learning in a foreign language. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24, 313–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kushch, O., Igualada, A., & Prieto, P. (2018). Prominence in speech and gesture favour second language novel word learning. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 33, 992–1004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law, L. N., & Zentner, M. (2012). Assessing musical abilities objectively: Construction and validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills. PLoS One, 7, e52508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, M., & DeKeyser, R. (2017). Perception practice, production practice, and musical ability in L2 Mandarin tone-word learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39, 593–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macedonia, M. (2019). Embodied learning: Why at school the mind needs the body. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macedonia, M., & Klimesch, W. (2014). Long-term effects of gestures on memory for foreign language words trained in the classroom. Mind, Brain, and Education, 8, 74–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Montes, E., Hernández-Pérez, H., Chobert, J., Morgado-Rodríguez, L., Suárez-Murias, C., Valdés-Sosa, P. A., & Besson, M. (2013). Musical expertise and foreign speech perception. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mizera, G. J. (2006). Working memory and L2 oral fluency (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Morett, L. M., & Chang, L. Y. (2015). Emphasizing sound and meaning: Pitch gestures enhance Mandarin lexical tone acquisition. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 30, 347–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagle, C. L. (2018). Examining the temporal structure of the perception–production link in second language acquisition: A longitudinal study. Language Learning, 68, 234–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, I., Segalowitz, N., Collentine, J., & Freed, B. (2006). Phonological memory and lexical, narrative, and grammatical skills in second language oral production by adult learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 377–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okada, H. (1999). Japanese. In International Phonetic Association (Ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (pp. 117–119). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pierrehumbert, J., & Beckman, M. (1988). Japanese tonal structure. The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Posedel, J., Emery, L., Souza, B., & Fountain, C. (2012). Pitch perception, working memory, and second-language phonological production. Psychology of Music, 40, 508–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prieto, P., Cravotta, A., Kushch, O., Rohrer, P. L., & Vilà-Giménez, I. (2018). Deconstructing beat gestures: A labelling proposal. In Klessa, K., Bachan, J., Wagner, A., Karpiński, M., & Śledziński, D.. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 201–205). International Speech Communication Association. https://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2018-41.Google Scholar
Roberge, C., Kimura, M., & Kawaguchi, Y. (Eds.). (1996). Nihongo no hatsuon shidoo: VT-hoo no riron to jissai [Pronunciation training for Japanese: Theory and practice of the VT method]. Bonjinsha.Google Scholar
Rota, G., & Reiterer, S. (2009). Cognitive aspects of pronunciation talent. In Dogil, G. & Reiterer, S. M. (Eds.), Language talent and brain activity (pp. 67–96). Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Sadakata, M., & Sekiyama, K. (2011). Enhanced perception of various linguistic features by musicians: A cross-linguistic study. Acta Psychologica, 138, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smotrova, T. (2017). Making pronunciation visible: Gesture in teaching pronunciation. TESOL Quarterly, 51, 59–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajima, K., Kato, H., Rothwell, A., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Munhall, K. (2008). Training English listeners to perceive phonemic length contrasts in Japanese. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123, 397–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taleghani-Nikazm, C. (2008). Gestures in foreign language classrooms: An empirical analysis of their organization and function. In Bowles, M., Foote, R., Perpiñán, S., & Bhatt, R. (Eds.). Selected proceedings of the 2007 language research forum (pp. 229–238). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Tellier, M. (2008). The effect of gestures on second language memorisation by young children. Gesture, 8, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trude, A. M., & Tokowicz, N. (2011). Negative transfer from Spanish and English to Portuguese pronunciation: The roles of inhibition and working memory. Language Learning, 61, 259–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, M. W. (2005). The phonology of Catalan. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wong, P. C. M., & Perrachione, T. K. (2007). Learning pitch patterns in lexical identification by native English-speaking adults. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 565–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, C., González-Fuente, S., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2019). Observing pitch gestures favors the learning of Spanish intonation by Mandarin speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41, 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampini, M. L. (1998). The relationship between the production and perception of L2 Spanish stops. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 3, 85–100.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2018). Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from training Chinese adolescents with French words. Language Teaching Research. doi:10.1177/1362168818806531.Google Scholar