Context And Second Language Development: Preschoolers' Comprehension Of Gestures  

Oleh:

Mohan, Bernard ; Helmer, Sylvia

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Applied Linguistics (Full Text) vol. 9 no. 3 (Sep. 1988), page 275-292.
Fulltext: Vol 9, 3, 275-292.pdf (1.0MB)

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan PKBB Nomor Panggil: 405/APL/9 Non-tandon: tidak ada Tandon: 1

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Isi artikel

There is wide agreement that non-verbal information, and contextual information generally, plays an important role in language understanding for second language learners. This raises the question of whether learners understand non-verbal communication. The 'traditional' view of the role of context in language learning assumes that they do. The 'social semiotic' view does not, holding that contextual understanding is developed in the process of communicative interaction. Contextual understanding is therefore likely to vary with age and cultural familiarity. This paper investigates the understanding of English speakers' gestures by preschool children, comparing native English speakers (age four to five) with non-native speakers. Thirty-six emblems and illustrators, two forms of commonly used gestures, were decoded by forty children, twenty native speakers, and twenty English as a second language (ESL) speakers. The gestures chosen were screened by a panel often ESL teachers who considered them to be typical of classroom interaction. It was found that the children, on average, understood about half of the gestures. ESL children understood less than native speakers. Analysis of variance results indicate that there is an effect for age as well as a strong effect for cultural familiarity (native speakers vs. ESL). There were significant correlations for the sequence of acquisition of gestures across all groups. Results therefore contradicted the 'traditional' view and were consistent with the 'social semiotic' view. It is suggested that research on the role of context in second language learning should take account of the social semiotic view and study the mutual development of language learning and cultural learning in the process of communicative interaction.

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