Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 38:1 (2025) ► pp.192–222
The function of the pointing gesture-speech combination in children’s story retelling
Published online: 5 April 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.22045.min
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.22045.min
Abstract
The use of multimodal communication provides information about children’s language development. From early ages, combinations of gesture and speech are part of communication and meaning processes in different discursive contexts. Our aim was to identify the types of pointing gesture-speech combinations and their communicative functions in the story retelling of 30-, 36-, 42-, and 48-month-old children. We analyzed the children’s retellings (in the context of joint attention with a book) by first identifying whether the pointing gesture-speech combinations were complementary or supplementary and then coding the communicative function of the combinations as assertive, directive, or expressive. The results showed a greater proportion of complementary combinations in all age groups, and a greater frequency of the assertive function in both complementary and supplementary combinations. This study provides evidence about the role of the pointing gesture-speech combinations in Mexican children’s story retelling and how their multimodal communication develops in this narrative context.
Resumen
La función de la combinación gesto de señalar-habla en el recuento de historias de niños
El uso de la comunicación multimodal proporciona información sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje de los niños. Desde edades tempranas, la combinación de gestos y habla forma parte de los procesos de comunicación y de significado en diferentes contextos discursivos. Nuestro objetivo fue identificar los tipos de combinaciones del gesto de señalar y el habla y sus funciones comunicativas en el recuento de historias de niños de 30, 36, 42 y 48 meses de edad. Para analizar la historia contada por los niños (en el contexto de una tarea de atención conjunta con un libro), primero identificamos si las combinaciones del gesto de señalar y el habla fueron complementarias o suplementarias y, después, codificamos su función comunicativa como asertiva, directiva o expresiva. Los resultados mostraron una mayor proporción de combinaciones complementarias en todos los grupos de edad, así como una mayor frecuencia de la función asertiva tanto en las combinaciones complementarias como en las suplementarias. Este estudio proporciona evidencia sobre el papel de la combinación del gesto de señalar con el habla en el recuento de historias de niños mexicanos y cómo se desarrolla su comunicación multimodal en este contexto narrativo.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Current study
- 2.Method
- 2.1Participants
- 2.2Data collection
- 2.3Coding and analysis of data
- 3.Results
- 4.Discussion and conclusions
- Acknowledgements
References
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