Bitesize Research: Impact Of Hand Gestures On Oracy & Retrieval

 By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. As part of our ongoing thinking about oracy, this week I was interested to come across some ideas about the power of using hand gestures in the classroom.

Objectives: To consider the impact of hand gestures on oracy, clarity and retrieval, both by teachers and students.

Summary: 

• There is a large body of research that suggests using gestures are essential in the formulation of oral responses. 

• It has been shown that the greater the cognitive strain or the more challenging a conversation is, the more gesturing takes place. 

• Further research has suggested that encouraging gesticulating frees up cognitive space, and therefore it enables students to be both more creative and more fluent when producing oral and written responses.

• A 2011 meta-study suggested that students understand more of what teachers say when hand movements accompany words

• Students are also more likely to remember and retrieve things if they use hand gestures at the point of initial encoding or first encountering a piece of information. These gestures should be deliberate rather than spontaneous. 

• The article suggests the following key takeaways:

  
  

1. Teachers should practice deliberate gestures before lessons particular when considering their teacher expositions, e.g. using their fingers to count the order of the planets

2. Teachers can direct students to watch their hands when they are explaining something new, as it encourages better retrieval

3. Teachers should encourage students to use gestures when doing talk activities in their classroom

4. Teachers can encourage students to use their hands if they are struggling to recall a key piece of information or keyword e.g. ‘How about moving your hands to find the right words?’

5. Students can be directed to recreate the gestures of their teachers as a way of recalling key information

6. Teachers can direct students to use what are known as deictic gestures - e.g. tracing a map, or geometry figures, or pointing to an anatomical label

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How do I use gestures currently in my lessons? 

• How can I explore my own use of gesture, as well as encourage students to use it too?

• When I have someone observe me, or I am observing a colleague, what gestures are used? What impact do they have?

• Which of the key takeaways would I be interested to explore?