The relationships among gesture, type of concepts, and language in higher order cognitive tasks of bilingual students

The present study tested the hypotheses on the main effects and interaction effects of gesture conditions (gesture-allowed and gesture-restricted), language of the speaker (L1 and L2), and type of concepts (spatial and non-spatial) on bilingual students\u27 performance in an explanation and analogical problem solving tasks. The study also investigated if the different types of gestures (iconic, beats, and deictic) varied depending on the language and the type of concept and if these gesture forms predicted outcomes in L1 and L2. Participants were given a reading material, and experienced the two gesture conditions (gesture-allowed and gesture-restricted) while answering questions about the material given. Study 1 specifically tested the outcomes in the explanation task and study 2 focused on the outcomes in analogical problem solving. A 2x2x2 mixed factorial design was used in both studies. Findings on the main effects of gesture conditions showed no significant outcomes in both explanation and analogical problem solving tasks. On the contrary, data from the predictive analyses point out that deictic gestures played a role in the use of both L1 and L2. Participants who used their L1 (Filipino) produced more beats while deictic gestures were used more by participants who spoke in L2 (English). Findings also show that beats play different roles in L1 and L2. Beats were related with better L1 outcomes while in the context of L2, the occurrence of beats were found to be associated with higher rates of speech dysfluency which suggests the unique role of beats in the speakers\u27 use of a weaker language. These results show evidence for gestures\u27 link with the conceptual planning of messages and likewise confirm gestures\u27 ability to negatively affect word priming among bilingual speakers