Training ESL students to reproduce beat gestures in discourse leads to L2 pronunciation improvements
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Argitaratua
2025-01-29
Pilar Prieto
Olga Kushch
Joan Borràs-Comes
Daria Gluhareva Carmen Pérez-Vidal
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8175-1081
Olga Kushch
Joan Borràs-Comes
Daria Gluhareva Carmen Pérez-Vidal
Laburpena
The main goal of the present study is to assess whether training foreign language students to reproduce natural beat gestures in discourse can trigger pronunciation gains. A total of 18 young adult Catalan learners of English with an intermediate proficiency level participated in a 15-minute discourse-based pronunciation training session. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. While one group was asked to simply repeat the instructor’s multimodal responses to discourse prompts by focusing on speech, the other group was asked to repeat the utterances together with the natural beat gestures that the instructor was using. Before and after training, participants were recorded producing a discourse completion task and their speech was rated for accentedness. Results showed that participants who accompanied their verbal repetition with beat gestures during training significantly reduced their accentedness scores more than those who were asked to only repeat the utterances without reproducing the beat gestures. These results support recent findings that show the value of embodied prosodic training for pronunciation instruction.
Nola aipatu
Prieto, Pilar, Olga Kushch, Joan Borràs-Comes, Daria Gluhareva, eta Carmen Pérez-Vidal. 2025. «Training ESL Students to Reproduce Beat Gestures in Discourse Leads to L2 Pronunciation Improvements». Anuario Del Seminario De Filología Vasca "Julio De Urquijo" 57 ((1-2):805-23. https://doi.org/10.1387/asju.25982.
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References
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Glenberg, Arthur M. & Michael P. Kaschak. 2002. Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 9. 558–565.
Gluhareva, Daria & Pilar Prieto. 2017. Training with rhythmic beat gestures favors L2 pronunciation in discourse-demanding situations. Language Teaching Research 21(5). 609–631.
Goldin-Meadow, Susan. 2014. Widening the lens: What the manual modality reveals about language, learning and cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369(1651). Article 20130295.
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Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Susan Levine, Elena Zinchenko, Terina Yip, Naureen Hemani & Laiah Factor. 2012. Doing gesture promotes learning a mental transformation task better than seeing gesture. Developmental Science 15(6). 876–884.
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Jusslin, Sofia, Kaisa Korpinen, Niina Lilja, Rose Martin, Jahanna Lehtinen-Schnabel & Eeva Anttila. 2022. Embodied learning and teaching approaches in language education: A mixed studies review. Educational Research Review 37. Article 100480.
Krahmer, Emiel & Marc Swerts. 2007. The effects of visual beats on prosodic prominence: Acoustic analyses, auditory perception and visual perception. Journal of Memory and Language 57(3). 396–414.
Kushch, Olga, Alfonso Igualada & Pilar Prieto. 2018. Prominence in speech and gesture favor second language novel word learning. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 33(8). 992–1004.
Larson-Hall, Jenifer. 2010. A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research Using SPSS. New York: Routlege.
Llanes-Coromina, Judith, Pilar Prieto & Patrick L. Rohrer. 2018. Brief training with rhythmic beat gestures helps L2 pronunciation in a reading aloud task. In Katarzyna Klessa, Jolanta Bachan, Agnieszka Wagner, Maciej Karpiński & Daniel Śledziński (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Speech Prosody Conference, 498–502. Poznań: International Speech Communication Association.
Macedonia, Manuela, Karsten Müller & Angela D. Friederici. 2011. The impact of iconic gestures on foreign language word learning and its neural substrate. Human Brain Mapping 32(6). 982-998.
Masumoto, Kouhei, Masahiko Yamaguchi, Kouichi Sutani, Satoru Tsuneto, Ayako Fujita & Mitsuo Tonoike. 2006. Reactivation of physical motor information in the memory of actionevents. Brain Research 1101(1). 102–109.
McCafferty, Steven G. 2006. Gesture and the materialization of second language prosody. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 44(2). 197–209.
Morett, Laura M. & Li-Yun Chang. 2015. Emphasising sound and meaning: pitch gestures enhance Mandarin lexical tone acquisition. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 98(3). 773–794.
Munro, Murray J. & Tracey M. Derwing. 1995. Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning 45(1). 73–97.
Niedenthal, Paula M., Lawrence W. Barsalou, Piotr Winkielman, Silvia Krauth-Gruber & François Ric. 2005. Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review 9(3). 184–211.
Pérez-Vidal, Carmen. 2009. The integration of content and language in the classroom: A European approach to education (The second time around). In Emma Dafouz, & Michele Guerrini (eds.), CLIL Across Educational levels: Experiences from primary, secondary and tertiary contexts, 25–40. Madrid: Santillana & Richmond Publishing.
Pulvermüller, Friedemann, Olaf Hauk, Vadim V. Nikulin & Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2005. Functional links between motor and language systems. European Journal of Neuroscience 21(3). 793–797.
Vilà-Giménez, Ingrid & Pilar Prieto. 2020. Encouraging kids to beat: Children's beat gesture production boosts their narrative performance. Developmental Science 23(6). Article e12967.
Yuan, Chenjie, Santiago González-Fuente, Florence Baills & Pilar Prieto. 2017. Observing pitch gestures favors the learning of Spanish intonation by Mandarin speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(1). 5-32.
Baills, Florence, Nerea Suárez-González, Santiago González-Fuente & Pilar Prieto. 2018. Observing and producing pitch gestures facilitates the learning of Mandarin Chinese tones and words. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(1). 35–58.
Barsalou, Lawrence W. 2008. Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology 59. 617–645.
Barsalou, Lawrence W., Kyle W. Simmons, Aron K. Barbey & Cristine D. Wilson. 2003. Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(2). 84–91.
Beilock, Seian L. & Susan Goldin-Meadow. 2010. Gesture changes thought by grounding it in action. Psychological Science 21(11). 1605–1610.
Colantoni, Laura, Paola Escudero, Victoria Marrero-Aguiar & Jeffrey Steele. 2021. Evidence-based design principles for Spanish pronunciation teaching. Frontiers in Communication 6. Article 639889.
Derwing, Tracey M. & Murray J. Munro. 1997. Accent, intelligibility, and comprehensibility. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19(1). 1–16.
Derwing, Tracey M. & Murray J. Munro. 2015. Pronunciation Fundamentals: Evidence-based Perspectives for L2 Teaching and Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Derwing, Tracey M. & Marian J. Rossiter. 2003. The effects of pronunciation instruction on the accuracy, fluency, and complexity of L2 accented speech. Applied Language Learning 13(1). 1–17.
Derwing, Tracey M., Murray J. Munro & Grace Wiebe. 1998. Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning 48(3). 393–410.
Glenberg, Arthur M. & Michael P. Kaschak. 2002. Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 9. 558–565.
Gluhareva, Daria & Pilar Prieto. 2017. Training with rhythmic beat gestures favors L2 pronunciation in discourse-demanding situations. Language Teaching Research 21(5). 609–631.
Goldin-Meadow, Susan. 2014. Widening the lens: What the manual modality reveals about language, learning and cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369(1651). Article 20130295.
Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Susan Wagner Cook & Zachary A. Mitchell. 2009. Gesturing gives children new ideas about math. Psychological Science 20(3). 267–272.
Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Susan Levine, Elena Zinchenko, Terina Yip, Naureen Hemani & Laiah Factor. 2012. Doing gesture promotes learning a mental transformation task better than seeing gesture. Developmental Science 15(6). 876–884.
Gordon, Joshua, Isabelle Darcy & Doreen Ewert. 2013. Pronunciation teaching and learning: Phonetic instruction in the L2 classroom. In John Levis & Kimberly LeVelle (eds.), Pronunciation and assessment: Proceedings of the 4th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference 2012, 194–206. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Graham, Carolyn. 1978. Jazz chants: Rhythms of American English for students of English as a second language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henderson, Alice, Lesley Curnick, Dan Frost, Alexander Kautzsch, Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova, Elina D. Levey & Ewa Waniek-Klimczak. 2015. The English Pronunciation Teaching in Europe Survey: Factors inside and outside the classroom. In Jose A. Mompean, & Jonás Fouz-González (eds.), Investigating English Pronunciation. Trends and Directions, 260–291. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137509437
Jusslin, Sofia, Kaisa Korpinen, Niina Lilja, Rose Martin, Jahanna Lehtinen-Schnabel & Eeva Anttila. 2022. Embodied learning and teaching approaches in language education: A mixed studies review. Educational Research Review 37. Article 100480.
Krahmer, Emiel & Marc Swerts. 2007. The effects of visual beats on prosodic prominence: Acoustic analyses, auditory perception and visual perception. Journal of Memory and Language 57(3). 396–414.
Kushch, Olga, Alfonso Igualada & Pilar Prieto. 2018. Prominence in speech and gesture favor second language novel word learning. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 33(8). 992–1004.
Larson-Hall, Jenifer. 2010. A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research Using SPSS. New York: Routlege.
Llanes-Coromina, Judith, Pilar Prieto & Patrick L. Rohrer. 2018. Brief training with rhythmic beat gestures helps L2 pronunciation in a reading aloud task. In Katarzyna Klessa, Jolanta Bachan, Agnieszka Wagner, Maciej Karpiński & Daniel Śledziński (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Speech Prosody Conference, 498–502. Poznań: International Speech Communication Association.
Macedonia, Manuela, Karsten Müller & Angela D. Friederici. 2011. The impact of iconic gestures on foreign language word learning and its neural substrate. Human Brain Mapping 32(6). 982-998.
Masumoto, Kouhei, Masahiko Yamaguchi, Kouichi Sutani, Satoru Tsuneto, Ayako Fujita & Mitsuo Tonoike. 2006. Reactivation of physical motor information in the memory of actionevents. Brain Research 1101(1). 102–109.
McCafferty, Steven G. 2006. Gesture and the materialization of second language prosody. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 44(2). 197–209.
Morett, Laura M. & Li-Yun Chang. 2015. Emphasising sound and meaning: pitch gestures enhance Mandarin lexical tone acquisition. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 98(3). 773–794.
Munro, Murray J. & Tracey M. Derwing. 1995. Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning 45(1). 73–97.
Niedenthal, Paula M., Lawrence W. Barsalou, Piotr Winkielman, Silvia Krauth-Gruber & François Ric. 2005. Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review 9(3). 184–211.
Pérez-Vidal, Carmen. 2009. The integration of content and language in the classroom: A European approach to education (The second time around). In Emma Dafouz, & Michele Guerrini (eds.), CLIL Across Educational levels: Experiences from primary, secondary and tertiary contexts, 25–40. Madrid: Santillana & Richmond Publishing.
Pulvermüller, Friedemann, Olaf Hauk, Vadim V. Nikulin & Risto J. Ilmoniemi. 2005. Functional links between motor and language systems. European Journal of Neuroscience 21(3). 793–797.
Vilà-Giménez, Ingrid & Pilar Prieto. 2020. Encouraging kids to beat: Children's beat gesture production boosts their narrative performance. Developmental Science 23(6). Article e12967.
Yuan, Chenjie, Santiago González-Fuente, Florence Baills & Pilar Prieto. 2017. Observing pitch gestures favors the learning of Spanish intonation by Mandarin speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(1). 5-32.
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