Gestures as scaffolding for L2 narrative recall: The role of gesture type, task complexity, and working memory

This study investigated the extent to which different pedagogical gestures contribute to learners’ foreign or second language (L2) narrative recall, and further discussed how task complexity and task difficulty (i.e. working memory capacity or WMC) influence recall performance. Sixty-four adolescent learners, assigned to four different gesture viewing conditions (iconic gestures, deictic gestures, beat gestures, or no gesture), were required to listen to an instructor telling two stories (one complex and one simple) and then retell both stories twice: once immediately after listening (immediate recall) and a second time two weeks later (delayed recall). Recall performance was evaluated by the number of relevant pieces of event and motion information produced in the participants’ retelling. The results show that L2 learners who were exposed to deictic and iconic gesture conditions outperformed the other gesture groups, particularly in delayed narrative recall, but only in complex tasks where cognitive demands were increased. It was also found that event and motion information was retained for a longer period of time in the deictic and iconic conditions respectively. Although both high and low WMC groups benefitted from viewing gestures, this finding further indicates that the beneficial effect of gestures on learners could possibly compensate for low WMC by providing scaffolding that reduces cognitive burden in narrative recall.