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

多模式通信-口头传达（例如，语音）和视觉（例如，面部表情，手势等）-可促进儿童的语言学习和发展。特别是，伴随听觉语音的视觉提示（例如，手势）增强儿童的词汇发展，特别是来自种族/少数民族群体和低收入家庭的儿童。通常，这些孩子拥有的词汇量远远小于他们的白色中产阶级同龄人。这种普遍存在的“词汇差距”在儿童入学之前就很明显，对儿童以后的成绩和教育程度有着重要的影响。因此，暴露在危险的儿童干预涉及多模式的通信，如手势伴随的语音，可能是特别有效的增加词汇知识和弥合持久的字/成就gap.The拟议的研究探讨手势和语言之间的关系跨种族和社会经济地位（SES）组从婴儿期到一年级。观察性研究将研究10至24个月大的婴儿和他们的母亲在自然互动中如何通过手势和语言进行交流（例如，阅读、玩耍）。实验研究将检查多模式通信的影响（即，手势+单词）对学龄前儿童学习新单词能力的影响。最后，一项以课堂为基础的干预研究将评估多模式（即，手势伴随语音）词汇教学与低社会经济地位的非洲裔美国儿童，谁继续在风险较差的学术和教育成果。这项研究将提供宝贵的见解多模态通信的效用（即，手势伴随语音）在儿童早期词汇和语言发展中的作用。此外，这项研究有可能通过为所有有语言延迟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，这项研究计划将增加代表性不足，种族和经济多样化群体的研究参与，并通过与北卡罗来纳州中央大学，一所历史悠久的黑人大学的合作伙伴关系，为代表性不足群体的本科生提供实践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.