Hearing gesture : how our hands help us think / Susan Goldin-Meadow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldin-Meadow, Susan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gesture.

Thought and thinking.

Cognition in children.

Communication.

Physical Description:

xiv, 280 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

How our hands help us think

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.

Summary:

Many Nonverbal Behaviors -- smiling, blushing, shrugging -- reveal our emotions. One nonverbal behavior, gesturing, exposes our thoughts. This book explores how we move our hands when we talk, and what it means when we do so. Susan Goldin-Meadow begins with an intriguing discovery: when explaining their answer to a task, children sometimes communicate different ideas with their hand gestures than with their spoken words. Moreover, children whose gestures do not match their speech are particularly likely to benefit from instruction in that task. Not only do gestures provide insight into the unspoken thoughts of children (one of Goldin-Meadow's central claims), but gestures reveal a child's readiness to learn, and even suggest which teaching strategies might be most beneficial. In addition, Goldin-Meadow characterizes gesture when it fulfills the entire function of language (as in the case of sign languages of the deaf) and when it occurs in children who are blind from birth. Focusing on what we can discover about speakers -- adults and children alike -- by watching their hands, this book discloses the active role that gesture plays in conversation and, more fundamentally, in thinking. In general, we are unaware of gesture, which occurs as an undercurrent alongside an acknowledged verbal exchange. In this book, Susan Goldin-Meadow makes clear why we must not ignore the background conversation.

Contents:

I. A Window on the Mind

1. Gesture Is Everywhere 3

2. Not Just Hand Waving 12

3. Giving Our Thoughts Away 23

4. Who Is Ready to Learn? 39

5. Only the Hands Know for Sure 55

II. Communicating

6. Everyone Reads Gesture 73

7. Understanding Speech 96

8. In the Classroom 103

9. Learning by Gesturing to Others 116

III. Thinking

10. Gesturing in the Dark 135

11. Gesturing Helps 145

12. Gesturing Leads to Change 167

IV. When There Is Only Gesture

13. Gesture within a Community 193

14. Gesture by a Child 208

15. Gesture on the Spot 229

Conclusion: Talking and Thinking with Gesture 241.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-269) and index.

ISBN:

0674010728

OCLC:

52134892