Gesture - Volume 18, Issue 1, 2019

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the intimate link between hands and minds – or rather: How the hands are a means for exploring thoughts in collaboration with others. Specifically, this study investigates a series of locally occurring instances of gestural reuse in naturally occurring psychotherapeutic interaction. The repetition of gestural sequences and formats in interaction has been researched as serving pragmatic functions of building cohesion (McNeill & Levy, 1993) and managing different aspects of turn-taking (Koschmann & LeBaron, 2002). Taking a micro-analytic approach to the study of gesture, we show how reusing other participants’ gestures in the context of psychotherapy serves additional functions: As affordances for shared, embodied cognition. The study contributes to the growing body of research on gesture as a co-participated, co-operative (Goodwin, 2013, 2018) and embodied phenomenon that criss-cross the boundaries of inside-the-skull, individual-centered and socially distributed cognition.

Abstract

We developed and tested a survey instrument to measure teachers’ attitudes about gesture in learning and instruction (TAGLI). Teachers (N = 192) generally believed that instructional gestures are beneficial for learning, and not distracting for students. Teachers had positive expectations, both for gestures that are redundant with (i.e., match) the accompanying speech, and gestures that are complementary to (i.e., mismatch) speech. However, teachers’ attitudes varied with teachers’ grade bands (middle v. high school) and curricular content areas (STEM v. non-STEM). Teachers endorsed a range of reasons for gesture’s pedagogical effectiveness. These reasons largely mirror the reasons teachers reported for why they produced gestures: gestures help make connections between representations and ideas, make abstract concepts more concrete, and they appropriately direct learners’ attention. Teachers reported that they frequently use gestures while teaching, explaining, and in everyday conversation.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the multimodal communicative patterns used by infants during their first-words transition period. The combinatorial patterns of twelve children living in Basque Country with different mother tongues were analyzed longitudinally from 9 to 21 months of age. A total of 4,299 communicative behaviors were recorded and coded (vocalizations, gestures, and pragmatic functions). Results showed a significant increase in multimodal communicative patterns from 12 months onwards, and differences in the infants’ vocal construction depending on the specific types of gestures involved. Thus, it was observed that gestures and speech combinations have influence on the child’s pragmatic function and vocalizations structure.

Abstract

Data is central to scholarly research, but the nature and location of data used is often under-reported in research publications. Greater transparency and citation of data have positive effects for the culture of research. This article presents the results of a survey of data citation in six years of articles published in the journal Gesture (12.1–17.2). Gesture researchers draw on a broad range of data types, but the source and location of data are often not disclosed in publications. There is also still a strong research focus on only a small range of the world’s languages and their linguistic diversity. Published papers rarely cite back to the primary data, unless it is already published. We discuss both the implications of these findings and the ways that scholars in the field of gesture studies can build a positive culture around open data.

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