Journal article
A tale of two hands: children's early gesture use in narrative production predicts later narrative structure in speech
Journal of child language, Vol.42(3), pp.662-681
05/2015
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000914000415
PMCID: PMC4317388
PMID: 25088361
Abstract
Speakers of all ages spontaneously gesture as they talk. These gestures predict children's milestones in vocabulary and sentence structure. We ask whether gesture serves a similar role in the development of narrative skill. Children were asked to retell a story conveyed in a wordless cartoon at age five and then again at six, seven, and eight. Children's narrative structure in speech improved across these ages. At age five, many of the children expressed a character's viewpoint in gesture, and these children were more likely to tell better-structured stories at the later ages than children who did not produce character-viewpoint gestures at age five. In contrast, framing narratives from a character's perspective in speech at age five did not predict later narrative structure in speech. Gesture thus continues to act as a harbinger of change even as it assumes new roles in relation to discourse.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A tale of two hands: children's early gesture use in narrative production predicts later narrative structure in speech
- Creators
- ÖZLEM ECE DEMIR - Department of Psychology, University of ChicagoSUSAN C LEVINE - Department of Psychology, University of ChicagoSUSAN GOLDIN-MEADOW - Department of Psychology, University of Chicago
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of child language, Vol.42(3), pp.662-681
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0305000914000415
- PMID
- 25088361
- PMCID
- PMC4317388
- NLM abbreviation
- J Child Lang
- ISSN
- 0305-0009
- eISSN
- 1469-7602
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK
- Number of pages
- 20
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2015
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984002462102771
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