Gestures Reveal Thinking-For-Speaking Patterns in High and Intermediate Proficiency L2 Learners

This study examined how gestures reveal developmental shifts among English language learners when they express path of motion events across tasks in their native Korean language (L1) and adopted English (L2) language. Languages were categorized as satellite- (English) or verb-framed (Korean). Participants (N = 32) watched the same cartoon and told the story in Korean and in English. Advanced English language learners exhibited L2 speech-gesture coordination or growth points, as evidenced by conflating path-only gestures primarily with grammatical satellites (i.e., adverb, prepositions, or path) as native English speakers do. Intermediate English language learners conflated path-only gestures predominantly with verbs when speaking in Ll and L2, consistent with Korean communication practices. Results suggest that gestures signal the "trailing edge" of language development among non-advanced L2 speakers that marks a prevailing Korean language representation even when speaking in English. These findings underscore the manner in which language serves thinking-for-speaking in its dynamic and multimodal qualities. As a result, it seems to be critical that L2 educators utilize gestures as a tool to evaluate L2 learners' developmental levels by observing learners' TFS patterns by exploring how they think when they speak in L2 and how gesture shows their L2 developmental levels.