Digital Commons Network^™

Differences In Gesticulation: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Gesture Differences Between First- And Second-Language Speech Output Among Advanced-Level Spanish/English Bilinguals, Dustin J. Hemsath

Theses and Dissertations

Hand gestures during speech lighten the speaker's cognitive load, provide lexical access, augment the precision of memory, and identify when a speaker is ready to learn a new skill (Abner, Cooperrider, Goldin-Meadow, 2015). Much of the research that has discovered these purposes of gesture have focused on gestures produced during speech in the speaker's first language. Many researchers use these findings to argue for the same cognitive benefits of gesture in the second language, though only little research of gesture and second language speech has been done. The present study sought to fill the gap between first and second language …