Gesture Research

If we take the perspective that language is more than just speech, that it also includes gesture (McNeill, Hand and mind, University of Chicago Press, 1992; McNeill, Gesture and thought, University of Chicago Press, 2005), then learners’ and teachers’ gestures need to be taken into account in second language teaching and learning research. This chapter provides an overview of the last several decades of research in second language acquisition, both inside and outside of the classroom, that examines the speech and gestures of second language learners and second and foreign language teachers. It discusses various research designs and methods, such as how gestures are coded to address the studies’ research questions.