| Gestures are an important part of language and the construction of meaning. Consequently, gestures are also an important aspect of developing competence in a second language. This dissertation investigates the impact of the study abroad experience on the L2 acquisition of motion event gesture patterns in Spanish by native English speakers. It has been said that native speakers of Spanish and English differ in terms of how motion events are expressed in speech and in gesture and thus result in varied Thinking for Speaking patterns (Berman & Slobin, 1994; E. Kellerman & van Hoof, 2003; McNeill, 1998; McNeill & Duncan, 2000; Negueruela, Lantolf, Jordan, & Gelabert, 2004; Slobin, 1991, 1996a, 1996b, 2003; Stam, 1998, 2006). The path component of a motion event is said to occur gesturally with path verbs in Spanish and with satellites in English. The manner component of a motion event is said to be expressed only gesturally in Spanish while expressed both gesturally and linguistically in English. The purpose of this study is to longitudinally examine the L2 Thinking for Speaking patterns for study abroad students studying in the target language country.;Data from one native speaker instructor and six study abroad students studying for one year at the University of Barcelona were collected for this project. The observations include two datasets carried out in distinct spontaneous discourse settings: in a formal setting and in an informal setting. The datasets were transcribed and coded for speech and gesture before being analyzed for path and manner quantitatively as well as qualitatively.;The data indicate that learners appear to acquire the correct use of L2 gesture patterns related to path and make use of them more frequently as time goes on. Yet, learners do not seem to clearly acquire the correct use of L2 gesture patterns related to manner as they demonstrate L1 and L2 gesture patterns when using L2. Moreover, the findings support the notion that there are considerable linguistic benefits to study abroad that include more than just L2 verbal developments; they also consist of the subtler aspects of language such as L2 gesture usage. |
