Summary

Children Learn When Their Teacher’s Gestures and Speech Differ Melissa A. Singer and Susan Goldin-Meadow

The authors of this article carried out this study on the effect of gestures by instructors on children's learning of mathematics, specifically on mathematical equivalence problem-solving. The researchers, in their study, asked whether gestures illustrating a different solution to the teacher's speech — gesture-speech mismatch — would facilitate the learning process or not. The researchers tested 160 third and fourth-grade students, who were divided into six groups. Different groups learned either one speech strategy or two. Students also learned under different conditions of gestures: no gesture, gestures that reflected the speech, or gestures that disclosed a different strategy from that disclosed in the verbal explanation.

It was discovered that children learned best when gestures were reflective of a different strategy from the one explained through speech. This mismatch between speech and gesture allowed students to learn two strategies without being overwhelmed with too much verbal information. Children who were taught two strategies only in speech did not perform as well, as expected, which means too much spoken information can mislead students. However, when the first strategy was explained through speech and the second strategy was presented only by gestures, students performed much better. This finding identifies that gestures have the potential to provide a valuable second channel of learning, complementing key concepts in a more palatable way.

The authors concluded that mismatching gestures can enhance learning by offering students an alternative way of learning the material. Gestures appear to contribute a little extra information in a soft, but effective, manner and make it easier for students to connect ideas. This study suggests that teachers intentionally supplement instruction with gestures — not as a rewording of what is being said, but as offering complementary methods for enhancing students' understanding of mathematics concepts.

Stop 1

Even teachers routinely produce gestures as they instruct children in both individualized tutorials (Goldin-Meadow, Kim, & Singer, 1999) and the classroom (Crowder & Newman, 1993; Flevares & Perry, 2001; Neill, 1991; Roth & Welzel, 2001; Zukow-Goldring, Romo, & Duncan, 1994). And children pay attention to those gestures, often gleaning substantive information from gesture that cannot be found anywhere in the teacher’s speech (Goldin-Meadow et al., 1999).(p.g.85)

I stopped at this quote there because it reminded me of my own teaching experience. During my teaching career, I used gestures many times without ever consciously thinking about them — they simply seemed to be a natural addition to what I was saying. Whether I was demonstrating addition by spreading out my hands to show grouping or spreading out a finger to gesture towards different spots in an equation to show key points, gestures were an essential aspect of my classroom. I realize now that gestures played a significant role in helping students to understand certain concepts. After reading this quote, how effective are the spontaneous hand movements and being mindful of my gestures can make my explanations more clear and more effective for students.

Stop 2

Gesture-speech mismatch occurs when gesture conveys information that is different from (although not necessarily contradictory to) the information conveyed in the speech it accompanies.(p.g.85)

I stopped at this quote because it helped me realize that gestures can be more effective than simply repeating what we say. Sometimes, a teacher's gestures express another solution to an issue or highlight an important idea that was not addressed verbally. This doesn’t mean the gesture is contradicting the verbal message; it is simply adding information that can help students think about the concept in a different way. As mentioned in the article, mismatched gestures can offer a second problem-solving strategy. However, in my opinion, this can’t happen all the time, especially when teaching younger students. If we mismatch gestures, it can confuse them and make it harder for them to understand the concepts clearly.

Do you have experience using gestures to enhance your teaching, and how do you balance them with verbal explanations to ensure clarity?