Sign Iconicity Helps Learning New Words for Abstract Concepts in a Foreign Language

Autor/inn/en	Rodríguez-Cuadrado, Sara; Ojedo, Fernando; Vicente-Conesa, Francisco; Romero-Rivas, Carlos; Sampedro, Miguel Ángel Carlos; Santiago, Julio
Titel	Sign Iconicity Helps Learning New Words for Abstract Concepts in a Foreign Language
Quelle	In: Second Language Research, 39 (2023) 3, S.873-898 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Rodríguez-Cuadrado, Sara)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0267-6583
DOI	10.1177/02676583221093841
Schlagwörter	Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Sign Language; Foreign Countries; Figurative Language; Sensory Integration; Nonverbal Communication; Vocabulary Development; Linguistic Theory; Concept Formation; Abstract Reasoning; Hearing (Physiology); Artificial Languages; Learning Processes; Comparative Analysis; Spain + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Gebärdensprache; Ausland; Sensorische Integration; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Wortschatzarbeit; Linguistische Theorie; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Abstraktes Denken; Denken; Gehör; Hören; Learning process; Lernprozess; Spanien
Abstract	Several studies have explored the use of iconic gestures to improve the learning of foreign vocabulary. In this quest, words for abstract concepts have been largely neglected, under the assumption that abstract concepts have poor or non-existent sensory-motor representations. Yet, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory suggests that they are grounded on concrete concepts. Moreover, analyses of signed languages reveal ways in which signs can exploit metonymies and conceptual metaphors to iconically refer to abstract concepts. Here, we explore whether iconic signs from Spanish Sign Language (LSE) can facilitate the learning of foreign words for abstract concepts in hearing participants who do not know any sign language. In two studies, participants were presented with new labels for abstract and concrete concepts in an artificial language (Vimmi). The labels could be accompanied by either a video of an iconic or non-iconic sign taken from the existing vocabulary of LSE, or a static image of the signer. In study 1, participants did not have to enact the signs they were presented with, while in study 2 they did. Both studies showed that iconic signs facilitated the learning of abstract foreign vocabulary, regardless of enactment. The strategies that sign languages use to develop iconic signs for abstract concepts make those signs useful to assist the learning of foreign words by hearing non-signers. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01