The simplest of learning supplements are often overlooked when they have become so normal to one's regular life. One of these aids is gestures - a way that people can non-verbally communicate, whether that is in expressing emotions or provide direction, and is often overlooked. Speech supplemented by gestures have been shown to aid in greater language proficiency. This simple supplement is not a supplement for all. People who are vision-impaired lack the benefits of co-speech gestures and the lack of attention-grabbing without gestures indicates weaker processing and leads to the negative impact on language proficiency. Recent research has shown the great impact that lack of gestures may imply for language skills as well as the ability to participate in a certain quality of life.
In the article, "Language Proficiency Impacts the Benefits of Co-Speech Gesture for Narrative Understanding Through a Visual Attention Mechanism," Dr. Wakefield and Zielinski's work shows how co-speech gestures help bilingual children in greater processing of narratives. They found that gestures reinforced intended messages and found that more complex messages facilitated greater comprehension. They monitored participants' visual attention and revealed how children pay greater attention to gestures than do adults, implying the supplemental aspect in development of gestures on speech. Furthermore, those who were less competent in a spoken language seemed to pay great attention to gestures. They looked closely into children who were accustomed to the Polish and English languages, with English being the more dominant language. They found the children more likely to recall a story in their second language, Polish, if it was accompanied by a gesture, but that same impact was not found for the English portion. Furthermore, they tested mismatched gestures and revealed how these gestures did not impact their comprehension for narratives in their second language but resulted in weaker recall of the first language narratives.
Understanding the major role of gestures on language comprehension, the loss of gestures could potentially indicate not only a loss in understanding but a lack in ability to fully participate in social environments. In the article, "The Impact of Low Vision on Social Function: The Potential Importance of Lost Visual Social Cues," the researchers indicated how visual cues, like facial expressions and body language, play a major role in social interaction. This research indicated that low vision or blindness is a risk factor for anxiety and depression. This reduced quality of life was indicated to be likely due to a loss of visual information, making it more difficult to engage in social interactions. With the greater reliance on non-visual cues, social functioning is negatively impacted. The researchers discuss a correlation between visual impairments and reduced social participation in simple participation of group-based activities, like clubs. The research reveals the integration of social interaction with able-seeing persons and how those facing visual impairment are seemingly set behind in not only physical aspects but social.
The two studies demonstrate how communication is not based on words alone but is supplemented by visual cues such as emotional response, hand signals, and directive movements. Wakefield's and Zielinski's research shows the importance of gestures, or lack thereof, in language comprehension and this was related to the study done by Klauke and other researchers which revealed the importance of lost visual social cues. These two aspects integrate into daily life in understanding how communication is not linear, rather there are many paths that can be taken. In understanding the setbacks that people face, future research can continue o learn more about the disparities in communication and potentially work to close the gap with new technological advances to greater integrate different forms of communication within the normal functioning of society.
No comments:
Post a Comment