Gesture and its impact of resolving lexical ambiguity
Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies
1 - Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch, Iran
Keywords: Gesture, Spatial intelligence, Lexical ambiguity, Homonymy, Kinesthetic intelligence,
Abstract :
The study aimed to shed light on the use of gesture in resolving lexical ambiguity employed by TEFL students. To this end, 60 intermediate Iranian learners, studying at Kish Way Language School in Iran were recruited. The participants were randomly put into two experimental groups and one control group. Both of the experimental groups received the same teaching approach, i.e. teaching homonyms through gesture, but the control group learned homonyms through Audio-lingual method. The results showed the value of gesture in resolving lexical ambiguity. Moreover, to investigate whether or not there was any significant relationship between spatial and kinesthetic intelligences on the one hand and the ability to resolve lexical ambiguity on the other, a Pearson correlation procedure was used. The results showed a significant relationship between spatial/ kinesthetic intelligences and the ability to resolve lexical ambiguity.
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