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Article published In: The gesture–sign interface in language acquisition / L’interface geste–signe dans l’acquisition du langage
Edited by Aliyah Morgenstern and Michèle Guidetti
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 8:1] 2017
► pp. 69–88

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Deaf and hearing children’s picture naming

Impact of age of acquisition and language modality on representational gesture

 | University of Birmingham
 | City University of London
 | University College London
 | University of Chicago
 | University of Birmingham
 | City University of London
Published online: 16 October 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.8.1.04tho
Abstract
Stefanini S., Bello A., Caselli M. C., Iverson J. M., & Volterra, V. (2009). Co-speech gestures in a naming task: developmental data. Language and Cognitive Processes 241, 168–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar reported that Italian 24–36 month old children use a high proportion of representational gestures to accompany their spoken responses when labelling pictures. The two studies reported here used the same naming task with (1) typically developing 24–46-month-old hearing children acquiring English and (2) 24–63-month-old deaf children of deaf and hearing parents acquiring British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English. In Study 1 children scored within the range of correct spoken responses previously reported, but produced very few representational gestures. However, when they did gesture, they expressed the same action meanings as reported in previous research. The action bias was also observed in deaf children of hearing parents in Study 2, who labelled pictures with signs, spoken words and gestures. The deaf group with deaf parents used BSL almost exclusively with few additional gestures. The function of representational gestures in spoken and signed vocabulary development is considered in relation to differences between native and non-native sign language acquisition.
Résumé
Stefanini S., Bello A., Caselli M. C., Iverson J. M., & Volterra, V. (2009). Co-speech gestures in a naming task: developmental data. Language and Cognitive Processes 241, 168–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar ont rapporté que des enfants italiens âgés de 24 à 36 mois utilisent une proportion élevée de gestes représentationnels pour accompagner leurs réponses verbales lors de la dénomination d’images. Les deux études présentées ici ont utilisé la même tâche de dénomination avec (1) des enfants anglais normo-entendants âgés de 24 à 46 mois et (2) des enfants sourds nés de parents sourds et de parents entendants âgés de 24 à 63 mois qui apprennent la langue des signes britannique (BSL) et l’anglais oral. Dans l'étude 1, les enfants ont obtenu des scores corrects correspondant à ce qui était attendu, mais ils ont produit très peu de gestes représentationnels. Cependant, lorsqu'ils ont fait des gestes, ils ont exprimé des actions ayant le même sens que celles rapportées dans les recherches précédentes. Le « biais » lié à l’action a également été observé chez les enfants sourds de parents entendants dans l'étude 2, qui ont dénommé des images avec des signes, des mots et des gestes. Le groupe d’enfants sourds nés de parents sourds a presque exclusivement utilisé la BSL en rajoutant peu de gestes. La fonction des gestes représentationnels dans le développement du vocabulaire oral et signé est envisagée en relation avec les différences dans l'acquisition de la langue des signes chez des signeurs natifs ou tardifs.
Article outline
  • 1.The gesture-language interface in early language development
    • 1.1How are gesture and language associated?
    • 1.2Cross-cultural picture naming studies
  • 2.Vocabulary development and gesture in deaf learners of sign language
  • 3.Experiments
    • 3.1Study 1
      • 3.1.1Method
        • Participants
        • Stimuli
        • Procedure
        • Spoken responses
        • Gesture production
        • Intercoder reliability
      • 3.1.2Results – study 1
        • Spoken language
        • Gesture production
      • 3.1.3Interim discussion
    • 3.2Study 2
      • 3.2.1Method
        • Participants
        • Procedure
        • Signed and Spoken targets
        • Gesture production
        • Intercoder reliability
      • 3.2.2Results – study 2
        • BSL comprehension
        • Picture production
        • Gesture production
        • BSL picture production vs. comprehension
  • 4.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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