We tested whether bilingual children gesture more than monolinguals because of greater word-finding difficulties. We found no differences on gesture frequency during word-finding difficulty. However, there were no differences on the number of word-finding difficulties or gestures. These results raise questions about when bilinguals and monolinguals differ in gesture use.
One function of co-speech gestures is to help speakers access words. Bilinguals often have a harder time with lexical access than monolinguals. They might therefore gesture more than monolinguals. However, previous research has not always held up that prediction. One possible reason for the lack of consistent support is that previous studies have not always coded for whether word-finding difficulties were occurring. In the present study, we predicted that: 1) bilinguals will experience more word-finding difficulties than monolinguals, 2) that bilinguals will gesture more than monolinguals and 3) bilinguals will gesture equally often as monolinguals during a word-finding difficulty. 28 Mandarin-English bilingual children between 4 and 6 years of age and 28 age-matched English monolinguals watched a cartoon and told the story of what they saw. The children’s gestures and word-finding difficulties were coded. As predicted, there were no differences between groups on how frequently they gestured during a word-finding difficulty. However, there were no differences between groups on the number of word-finding difficulties or on the number of gestures. These results raise questions about whether there are, indeed, differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in their use of gestures.
