Gestures may help students recall new words in Mandarin

CHICAGO - Students' comprehension of words in a foreign language improves if teachers pair each word with a gesture, even if the gesture is arbitrary and does not represent a word's actual meaning, according to research released by the University of Illinois.

The 30 participants in the study were all native speakers of American English or considered it to be their first language. About one-third of the participants considered themselves bilingual, though none had any experience with Mandarin.

Students watched as the instructor introduced 18 new words in Mandarin, presenting them to the students in groups of six: six words each accompanied by arbitrary gestures, iconic gestures and without gestures.