Toddlers who use gestures to convey more meanings at the age of 14 months have more extensive vocabularies when they enter school several years later, a new study has revealed.
"Our findings contradict the folklore," said Prof Susan Goldin-Meadow, co-author on the study. "Your grandma always told you - if you're really articulate you shouldn't have to use your hands at all" [BBC News].
Instead, there's a clear link between gestures and language acquisition, Goldin-Meadow says. The effect begins with the parents, researchers say--parents who gesture more when interacting with their toddlers produce the same behavior in their children. But unfortunately, the parental habit is distributed unevenly, researchers say, with wealthier, better-educated parents gesturing much more to their children. This
may help explain why some children from low-income families fare less well in school. "When children enter school, there is a large socioeconomic gap in their vocabularies" [Reuters]
, says ...
