Observations on the Progression of Gestures with L2 Proficiency: A Call for Further Research

Gestures in learners of second languages (L2) are still an understudied field. Most studies comparing the same individuals gesturing in their L2 and in the mother tongue (L1) report a higher frequency of gestures in the L2, however, the reason for this difference is not yet clear. Aside from idiosyncratic and cultural variations, differences in language type, such as syllabic duration and functional load and syntactical structure, as well as differences in the proficiency of the speaker are likely to affect the production of gestures in terms of their frequency and function. The many variables to be considered obscure the role of proficiency and the integration of gesture-speech-idea in L2 speakers. These variables are only controlled in a handful of longitudinal studies comparing speakers’ gestures at two or more points in the proficiency continuum. With this paper, we seek to add our observations to this corpus, using the data collected under the case study of a Cantonese learner of English, to reflect on a number of existing theoretical constructs. We propose a number of ideas that need further research, as well as a number of variables that need to be better understood in order to advance L2 gesture research. As our observations are based on the narrations of one individual, our generalizations are theoretical at this point as our results cannot to be extrapolated to all L2 learners, instead, they are intended to highlight a number of areas related to L2 gesture production and how this might change with proficiency, that require further study.