CAREER: Gesture and Learning: Implications for Children's Language Development Across Race and Socioeconomic Status

多模式交流——口头（如演讲）和视觉（如面部表情、手势）两种方式的交流——有助于儿童的语言学习和发展。特别是，伴随着视觉线索（如手势）的听觉言语可以促进儿童的词汇发展，特别是来自少数民族和低收入家庭的儿童。通常，这些孩子的词汇量比他们的白人中产阶级同龄人少得多。这种普遍存在的“语言差距”在孩子入学之前就很明显，并对以后的成就和教育程度有潜在的影响。因此，让有风险的儿童接触涉及多模式交流的干预措施，如手势伴语，可能对增加词汇知识和弥合持续存在的单词/成就差距特别有效。这项拟议的研究考察了从婴儿期到一年级，不同种族和社会经济地位（SES）群体的手势和语言之间的关系。观察性研究将研究10到24个月大的婴儿和他们的母亲在自然互动（如读书、玩耍）中如何通过手势和语言进行交流。实验研究将考察多模态交流（即手势+文字）对学龄前儿童学习新单词能力的影响。最后，一项基于课堂的干预研究将评估多模式（即手势伴随语言）词汇教学对低社会经济地位的非裔美国儿童的效果，这些儿童的学业和教育成绩仍然存在较差的风险。本研究将对多模式交际（即手势伴随言语）在儿童早期词汇和语言发展中的作用提供有价值的见解。此外，这项研究有可能通过为所有有语言迟缓或缺陷风险的儿童创造早期有效的学习干预措施来改变教育实践。此外，该研究项目将增加代表性不足、种族和经济多样化群体的研究参与，并通过与历史上的黑人大学北卡罗来纳中央大学的合作伙伴关系，为代表性不足群体的本科生提供动手实验室和社区研究经验。

Multi-modal communication -conveyed both verbally (e.g., speech) and visually (e.g., facial expressions, gestures)- can facilitate children's language learning and development. In particular, accompanying auditory speech with visual cues (e.g., gestures) enhances children's vocabulary development, especially children from racial/ethnic minority groups and lower income households. Typically, these children possess substantially smaller vocabularies than their White middle-class peers. This pervasive "word gap" is evident before children enter school and has potent implications for later achievement and education attainment. Thus, exposing at-risk children to interventions involving multi-modal communication, such as gesture-accompanied speech, may be particularly effective in increasing vocabulary knowledge and bridging the persistent word/achievement gap.The proposed research examines the relationship between gesture and language across racial and socioeconomic status (SES) groups from infancy through first grade. Observational studies will examine how 10- to 24-month-old infants and their mothers communicate through gesture and language during naturalistic interactions (e.g., book reading, play). Experimental studies will examine the impact of multi-modal communication (i.e., gesture + words) on preschool children's ability to learn new words. Finally, a classroom-based intervention study will assess the efficacy of multi-modal (i.e., gesture-accompanied speech) vocabulary instruction with low-SES African American children, who continue to be at risk for poorer academic and educational outcomes.This research will provide valuable insights into the utility of multi-modal communication (i.e., gesture-accompanied speech) in children's early vocabulary and language development. Moreover, this research has the potential to transform educational practices by creating early and effective learning interventions for all children at risk for language delays or deficits. Furthermore, this program of research will increase research participation of underrepresented, racially and economically diverse groups and provide undergraduates students from underrepresented groups with hands-on laboratory- and community-based research experience through a collaborative partnership with North Carolina Central University, a historically black university.