Bilingual children’s gesture use

Gesture ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Smithson ◽  
Elena Nicoladis ◽  
Paula Marentette
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Stories ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Bilingual Group

Previous studies have shown that bilinguals use more manual gestures than monolinguals (Pika et al., 2006; Nicoladis et al., 2009), suggesting that gestures may facilitate lexical retrieval or may reduce the cognitive load on working memory during speech production. In this study, we tested the generalizability of these findings by comparing the use of gestures in three groups of children (English monolinguals, Mandarin Chinese-English bilinguals, and French-English bilinguals) between 7 and 10 years of age as they retold two short stories about a cartoon. The bilingual children were asked to retell narratives in both languages. The results showed that the French-English bilinguals used significantly more gestures than the Chinese-English bilinguals. With respect to gesture rates accompanying speech in English, the monolinguals did not differ from either bilingual group. The bilingual children’s use of gestures was generally not correlated with our measures of working memory (narrative length and speech rate). These results suggest that culture may be a more important determiner of gesture rate than bilingualism and/or working memory capacity.

scholarly journals WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND LEXICAL DENSITY IN L2 SPEECH PRODUCTION

Organon ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (51) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janaina Weissheimer ◽  
Mailce Borges Mota
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
L2 Speech Production

Este estudo investiga a relação entre a capacidade de memó-ria de trabalho e a densidade lexical (DL) no desempenho oral e no de-senvolvimento da habilidade de produção oral em L2. Os 45 participan-tes deste estudo foram submetidos a duas coletas de dados, cada umaconsistindo de um teste de amplitude de memória de trabalho duranteo desempenho oral, adaptado de Daneman (1991), e de uma tarefa deprodução oral em L2, com um intervalo de doze semanas entre elas.A DL foi determinada pela proporção de itens lexicais repetidos e nãorepetidos na fala dos participantes. Os resultados mostram que a am-plitude da memória de trabalho está negativamente relacionada à DLoral em L2, ou seja, os participantes com maior amplitude usaram maisitens lexicais repetidos. Quanto ao desenvolvimento da habilidade oral,apenas os participantes com menor amplitude de memória de trabalhodemonstraram um aumento signi& cativo na medida de DL ao longo dasduas fases de coleta de dados.

Learning from screencast videos for software training : a comparison of dual and single-monitor learning environments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Douglas Paul Kueker
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Worked Examples ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Instructional Efficiency ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Split Attention ◽  
Set Up

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Learning to use software programs using worked examples in screencast videos presents a classic split-attention problem that requires learners to mentally integrate information from the video with a target application. While much is known about sound screencast tutorial design, little is known about the features of the learning environment, such as monitor configuration, that may influence learning from this form of instruction. An experiment was conducted with 42 novice learners to fill this gap by comparing the effects of two common monitor configurations which split attention in different ways. In one condition, subjects split attention temporally by toggling back and forth between the video and target application on one monitor, while the other condition required subjects to split attention spatially by shifting their gaze between the video and target application displayed on two side-by-side monitors. Effects due to the monitor set-up were assessed for measures of cognitive load, instructional efficiency, and motivation using a 2x2 study design that controlled for task order. Results indicated that cognitive load as measured through task evoked pupil response was significantly higher, pless than .05, for groups with two monitors during both instruction and testing, even after controlling for working memory capacity. Analyses of three gaze-related eye-tracking metrics and NASA-TLX ratings did not indicate any differences in workload due to the experimental treatment; however, attentional patterns indicated by the eye-tracking data were shaped by two- and three-way interactions between working memory capacity and the experimental conditions. Measures of instructional efficiency indicated that the single monitor set-up was most efficient as learners attempted to transfer learning. While task efficacy and relevance ratings increased after training, monitor set-up did not affect post-training motivation.

PRE-LEARNING ACTIVITIES USING A TEXTBOOK: A CROATIAN VIEW

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snježana Smerdel ◽  
◽  
Meliha Zejnilagić-Hajrić ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Teaching Chemistry ◽  
Written Materials

A pilot research was carried out on a sample of teachers in order to determine the frequency of textbook usage within the pre-learning strategy for teaching chemistry and biology in primary and secondary schools. Data were collected through a questionnaire, and processed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Teachers use a textbook with written materials, as well as online resources within the frame of the pre-learning strategy quite rarely, and there is no difference in textbook usage regarding the education level. Keywords: cognitive load, pre-learning activities, using a textbook, working memory capacity.

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