THE FUNCTION OF GESTURE IN THE COUNTING ACTIVITIES OF VERY YOUNG CHILDREN.
Item
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Title
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THE FUNCTION OF GESTURE IN THE COUNTING ACTIVITIES OF VERY YOUNG CHILDREN.
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Identifier
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AAI8515639
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identifier
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8515639
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Creator
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KAPLAN, ROCHELLE GOLDBERG.
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Contributor
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Geoffrey Saxe David Bearison
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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Pointing gestures have frequently been observed to accompany the counting activities of very young children. It is generally assumed that these gestures serve as an aid to counting accuracy, as they do in older children. However, because very young children do not appreciate many numerical concepts underlying the counting process, it was hypothesized that gesture, having its roots in the symbolic activities of the late sensori-motor period of development, serves a referential rather than partitioning function in the counting activities of these children. Only later as quantitative understanding develops should gesture shift in function to help in obtaining an accurate count.;In order to examine the development of the function of gesture in counting activities, children between 3 and 7 years of age were presented with labeling and counting tasks in which they were and were not permitted to use gestures.;The results indicated that 3-year-olds tended to use gestures in synchrony with their verbalizations. They counted more accurately with than without gestures, but were consistently less accurate than 4- and 7-year-olds. They also labeled more accurately than they counted and tended to deploy gestures unsystematically. Four-year-olds counted more accurately when gestures were allowed and, with gestures, could count as accurately as 7-year-olds. They counted as accurately as they labeled and deployed gestures in an orderly manner. Seven-year-olds were consistently accurate on both counting and labeling tasks with or without the use of gestures, but gestured infrequently.;It was concluded that for 3-year-olds, gesture was used referentially and made counting more like a labeling task by supporting the process of assigning individual words to particular objects. For 4-year-olds, the function of gesture shifted to serve as a partitioning aid and was necessary for obtaining accuracy. For 7-year-olds, gesturing was not necessary for obtaining accuracy, but when it did occur, probably continued to serve a limited partitioning function.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Educational Psychology
