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# The effects of situated gestures on Mandarin Chinese word learning

Yuting He-Zhang, Karine Duvignau, Nathalie Huet

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## To cite this version:

Yuting He-Zhang, Karine Duvignau, Nathalie Huet. The effects of situated gestures on Mandarin Chinese word learning. Acta Psychologica, 2025, 261, 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105806. hal-05335522

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Submitted on 28 Oct 2025

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# The effects of situated gestures on Mandarin Chinese word learning

Yuting He-Zhang<sup>a, *,</sup> , Karine Duvignau<sup>a, b</sup> , Nathalie Huet<sup>a</sup>

ARTICLE INFO

Dataset link: The effects of situated gestures on mandarin chinese word learning (Original data)

Keywords:

Embodied Learning

Gestures

Situation

Mandarin Chinese

Concrete and Emotional Words

Memory

A B S T R A C T

This study investigated the impact of gestures on learning new Mandarin Chinese lexicon in a classroom envi-
ronment. It compared the differences between observing and producing a gesture, and examined whether
repeating a gesture in a representative context improved learning outcomes. It also examined these effects on the
acquisition of concrete and emotional words. Fifty-eight students were exposed to 32 new words under four
conditions: no gestures, gesture observation, gesture production, and situated gestures. Memory performance
was assessed through two translation tests and one recognition test, administered 25 min after learning and one
week later. The results showed that gestures performed in a situation led to significantly better immediate recall
than the other conditions in both the translation and recognition tests. These findings suggest that contextually
grounded gestures can improve L2 acquisition, particularly for emotional words.

1. Introduction

Vocabulary acquisition is a fundamental component of the L2
learning process. However, this is sometimes inefficient, as learners
often forget newly acquired words shortly after exposure. This is prob-
ably because of a passive learning environment in which learners typi-
cally remain seated, listen, and repeat after instructors, with little active
engagement (Macedonia, 2019). According to the Levels of Processing
(Craik & Lockhart, 1972), deeper encoding enhances long-term recall.
Therefore, merely repeating a novel L2 word with an L1 translation may
lead to shallow perceptual processing, resulting in weaker retention. By
contrast, enriching lexical input with multimodal information, such as
visual or motoric cues, can facilitate later recall. Several studies have
found that pairing words with pictures and gestures leads to superior
learning outcomes compared to classical read and repeat methods (e.g.,
Andrà et al., 2020; Jusslin et al., 2022; Mathias et al., 2022). Facing
these traditional methods, the present study advocates a generative
learning approach and, notably, an embodied learning approach. The
purpose is to investigate the effects of embodiment when acquiring
novel L2 words in a university classroom setting. In particular, it eval-
uates the effects of gestures during a brief training session on learning
Mandarin Chinese words.

Generative learning and embodied learning approaches are closely

related, as some principles of the generative learning approach are
derived from embodied cognition literature. Generative learning in-
volves an active process of structuring and connecting new information
with prior knowledge (Wittrock, 1989). It aims to build meaningful
mental representations enabling learners to transfer and adapt their
knowledge to new contexts. According to Fiorella (2023), enactment is
an important mode that leads to optimal learning outcomes, as it gen-
erates a coherent motor representation that simulates the dynamic ele-
ments of the learning material (p.7). Gesturing is one of its main forms.
Robust evidence has demonstrated the beneficial effects of gesturing on
memorization (Sivashankar et al., 2023), learning new mathematical
concepts (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2009), knowledge transfer (Novack
et al., 2014), and language acquisition (De Nooijer et al., 2013). Ges-
tures are also framed within theories of embodied cognition. These
propose that cognitive processes are grounded in bodily experiences,
emphasizing the strong connections between the brain, body, and
environment (Barsalou, 2020). Research on L2 learning indicates that
pairing a novel word with a representative gesture or action related to its
meaning enhances encoding (e.g., He-Zhang et al., 2025b; García-
Gámez et al., 2021). For example, associating the word wineglass with a
drinking gesture simulates the experience, leaving a motor trace that
facilitates retrieval. When recalling the word later, similar brain patterns
formed during previous experiences are reactivated. This sensorimotor

<footnote><sup>a</sup> Laboratory CLLE (Cognition, Languages, Language, Ergonomics), UMR 5263, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France</footnote>

<footnote><sup>b</sup> INSPÉ (Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l'Éducation), Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France</footnote>

<footnote>* Corresponding author at: University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de la Recherche, 5, allée Antonio Machado, 31058, TOULOUSE cedex 9, France.
E-mail address: yuting.he-zhang@univ-tlse2.fr (Y. He-Zhang).</footnote>
simulation allows individuals to anchor their knowledge in the world.

Embodied learning and teaching have been identified as promising research fields (Hegna & Ørbæk, 2021) and are considered a future paradigm in higher education (Clughen, 2024). However, further research is needed. First, we found that most research on gesture production and L2 novel word acquisition was conducted on children and teenagers under the age of 14 (see Jusslin et al., 2022 for an extensive review); however, few studies have investigated the effects of gesture production on learners over 18 years old in an L2 classroom setting (e.g., Allen, 1995; Macedonia & Klimesch, 2014). In fact, most studies that have demonstrated the benefits of gesture production in L2 learning among adults have been conducted in laboratory settings (e.g., He-Zhang et al., 2025b; García-Gámez et al., 2021; Kelly et al., 2009; Repetto et al., 2017; Sweller et al., 2020), where participants typically entered individually or in small groups. Such conditions differ significantly from a real educational environment, in which students perform gestures in a collective setting.

Second, whereas some researchers (Kosmas & Zaphiris, 2020; Schmidt et al., 2019) have reported increased engagement and motivation among children when employing an embodied teaching approach, it is possible that engaging young adults may yield different behaviors and feelings. Some students, being shy and introverted, might perform minimal gestures or avoid them altogether, while others might not take them seriously (see Macedonia et al., 2014). Given that students have their own preferred learning methods, this study evaluates not only the impact of gestures on the L2 classroom, but also the learners' feelings about this approach.

The present study addresses three research questions. First, we compare the differences between gesture observation and gesture production in Mandarin Chinese novel word learning to determine whether physical movement is necessary to create a motor trace in the brain. Second, we investigate the effects of context when reproducing a gesture. Cognition is not only embodied, but also situated (Barsalou, 2020), as action and context are closely intertwined. We investigate whether imagining oneself in a specific situation while imitating a gesture has a stronger impact on memory than the other conditions in which context is not taken into consideration. Third, we examine the acquisition of emotional words using an embodied learning approach to investigate whether introducing emotional words accompanied by gestures and context can lead to deeper encoding. We also compare these effects on the acquisition of emotional and concrete words.

## 1.1. *Empirical research on gesture production and gesture observation in L2 learning*

Theories of embodied cognition postulate that perceptual and motoric information are fundamental in grounding concepts (Glenberg, 2010). Accordingly, both observing and producing gestures are beneficial when learning new words. Previous research has investigated the differences between the two conditions in new lexicon acquisition (García-Gámez et al., 2021; Sweller et al., 2020) and word and event recall (Engelkamp & Zimmer, 1997; Sivashankar et al., 2023). Although some studies have proposed that the positive effects of gestures are primarily driven by motor imagery (Sweller et al., 2020), others have indicated that physical movement is a critical factor (Tellier, 2005).

According to the motor trace theory (Engelkamp, 2001), performing a gesture during encoding creates a motor memory trace that, along with visual and semantic traces, helps establish a multimodal representation. Robust studies have demonstrated that enacting the content of sentences leads to improved memory recall compared to simply observing the enactment of others (e.g., Engelkamp & Zimmer, 1997). In this context, motor activity is considered a relevant factor, because it activates and later reactivates the information stored in the motor system. The results of the empirical evidence on foreign language learning are consistent with this theory (e.g., García-Gámez et al., 2021; Macedonia et al., 2014; Tellier, 2005). For example, Tellier (2005) emphasized that L2 teachers

should ensure that children repeat gestures alongside words to reinforce memory traces through active learning. These findings suggest that the involvement of both perception and action creates richer encoding conditions and that only active performance establishes a motor trace in the brain.

In contrast, other researchers argue that observing gestures can be sufficient to promote recall in L2 learning (Baillies et al., 2019; Rodríguez-Cuadrado et al., 2023; Sweller et al., 2020). For example, He-Zhang et al. (2025a) reported that neither overt motor activity nor the physical properties of the objects played a beneficial role in an immediate recognition test, as no differences were found between repeating an action on the object and observing an action carried out by the experimenter. García-Gámez et al. (2021) found no significant differences in the response times between these conditions during cued recall tests. These findings suggest that observing a gesture or action activates similar motor regions in the brain (see Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). Therefore, motor imagery has been proposed as an alternative explanation of the positive effects of gestures. A mental simulation of executing an action can be sufficient to facilitate retention (Kormi-Nouri, 2000).

## 1.2. *Cognition is embodied and situated*

Although motor elements play a fundamental role in cognitive processes (Engelkamp, 2001; Zimmer et al., 2000), it is important to consider the relationship between the motor processes and the context in which they occur. Cognition is embodied and also situated. One of its primary functions is to support actions in specific contexts. Through interactions with surroundings, the brain simulates previous situations to facilitate appropriate actions for desirable outcomes (Barsalou et al., 2018). According to this view, individuals do not learn concepts in isolation; rather, cognitive processes are always part of a Situated Action Cycle (see Barsalou, 2020). According to this one, all the situation elements from the external and internal world, such as the object, event, goals, affects, actions, and outcomes, constitute the situational memories. When processing a novel concept, such as a mop, individuals may recall previous experiences associated with the concept. Besides representing the physical appearance, such as the color and shape, they might simulate an action involving the mop, such as cleaning the floor; an introspective evaluation of its aesthetics, such as comfort and emotional state; and a situation in which the action takes place, such as the stairs of their house. Rather than treating cognition in an isolated way, it is more productive to couple cognition with the context, affect, action, and outcomes (Barsalou, 2020). Robust empirical evidence supports the importance of the situation. For example, it has been demonstrated that when the retrieval context matches the original learning context, participants tend to retrieve more words (He-Zhang et al., 2025b; Smith & Handy, 2016). Similarly, a recent study conducted by Marre et al. (2024) found that, in a free recall test, participants who imagined a place where they interacted with an object remembered more words than those who either mentally repeated the word, created a mental image of the object, or imagined interacting with the object (Experiment 1).

## 1.3. *Encoding different types of words in L2: concrete and emotion*

Previous research on the processing of word types has underlined the distinctiveness of emotion words, indicating that they are acquired differently compared to concrete and abstract words (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; El-Dakhs & Altarriba, 2018), as they present different characteristics in terms of concreteness, context availability, and imageability ratings. Researchers have revealed that concrete words are rated the highest across the three scales, whereas emotion words have been claimed to be less imageable with low rates in context availability (Altarriba et al., 1999; El-Dakhs & Altarriba, 2018). For example, it is easier to activate a mental image for the words *tree*, *book*, *table*. In contrast, abstract and emotional words such as *love*, *thought*, *justice* are
considered more challenging due to the lack of tangible associations and a less rich semantic representation. Therefore, they are considered to be more context-dependent (Altarriba et al., 1999; Kousta et al., 2009). In the literature, emotion words are usually identified as one category within abstract words (Conca et al., 2021), which play an important role in the processing of abstract words (Ferré et al., 2015; Kousta et al., 2011; Vigliocco et al., 2018) and are highly dependent on context (Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2012; Kensinger & Corkin, 2003). For example, a child learning the abstract word *love* might associate this label with a specific situation and feeling, such as coming back home and being hugged.

Robust evidence has demonstrated that both emotional words (e.g., *love* and *sadness*) and emotion-laden words (e.g., *present* and *corpse*) are more vividly remembered than concrete neutral words (e.g., *lamp*), see Altarriba and Bauer (2004), Guasch and Ferré (2021), Kensinger and Corkin (2003), and Kousta et al. (2009) for memorizing words in L1; El-Dakhs and Altarriba (2018), Ferré et al. (2015), and Kanazawa (2016) for memorizing words in L2. These findings can be explained by critical mediators, such as the level of arousal - whether the stimulus is negative or positive, and valence - whether the stimulus is calming or exciting (Kuperman et al., 2014). Given that concrete and emotion words present different characteristics and the mechanism underlying their processing is also different, we should consider that the teaching and learning of these words might also differ, notably when processing emotion words in L2. It is assumed that learning and using words of emotion in L2 differs from doing so in one's native language (Altarriba, 2003; Dewaele, 2006; Pavlenko, 2008). Emotion words are typically more deeply encoded in L1, with a strong connection between the emotion word and the context in which they are learned, whereas learning emotion words in L2 seems to be more detached and distant. This is probably due to the unauthentic learning context (Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2012), as L2 learners are usually situated in a classroom environment. From the perspective of embodied and situated cognition, in which body and context play a fundamental role in word processing, it is possible that words of emotion learned with a gesture performed in a context can lead to deeper encoding (see Abbassi et al., 2015).

## 1.4. *The current study*

Previous research has demonstrated that gestures aid in L2 novel word recall, suggesting that professors of foreign languages can introduce novel words accompanied by gestures. Increased interest in this approach has encouraged researchers to conduct studies in classroom settings; however, most have targeted children and teenagers (e.g., Andrä et al., 2020; Mathias et al., 2022; Tellier, 2005). The present study, framed within the theories of embodied cognition, aimed to examine the effects of gestures and context in higher educational settings and investigate whether it was possible to introduce an embodied learning approach when teaching young adult students enrolled in foreign language courses at the university.

Our first research question examined the difference between observing and imitating gestures. Despite the number of studies on this issue, there is still debate about whether physical movement is necessary for better memory performance. Consistent with previous studies (Macedonia et al., 2014; Sivashankar et al., 2023; Tellier, 2005), our first hypothesis postulated that, although in both conditions, motor regions were activated, producing a gesture would lead to deeper encoding as participants were both engaged perceptually and motorically, leading to the creation of a richer memory representation.

Our second research question investigated the effects of situations when imitating gestures; in other words, whether thinking about a specific context and imitating a representative gesture depicting the meaning of a word would facilitate learning and retrieval. This was an important contribution of the current study, as previous research has introduced gestures in an isolated way, without considering the effects of the situation (e.g., García-Gámez et al., 2021; Sweller et al., 2020).

Actions and situations are closely intertwined, as it is likely that when reactivating a previous sensorimotor simulation, they are prompted to imagine themselves in a specific context (Yeh & Barsalou, 2006). In this context, our second hypothesis proposed that context mattered, and the environment was a fundamental factor that allowed learners to be situated in a real learning context and could serve as a retrieval clue during recall tasks. We expected that concrete and emotional words would be better retained when a representative context was provided than when it was not involved. We speculated that when simulating the action for the word *soap - washing your hands*, not only was the motor trace activated, but one would also think of a particular place in which the action often takes place, such as a bathroom. Furthermore, the situation was expected to play a more important role for emotional words than for concrete words. Individuals acquire emotional words in a contextualized environment. Therefore, we expected that instructing learners to imagine a situation, feel an emotion, and reproduce an iconic gesture would lead to better retention of these emotional words than learning them by merely listening to the word, observing a gesture, or producing a gesture.

Our third research question investigated the acquisition of concrete and emotional words from embodied perspectives. In particular, we focused on the features of gestures and context when encoding emotional words. Previous studies have mainly investigated the effects of gestures when learning L2 verbs (e.g., García-Gámez et al., 2021; Kelly et al., 2009; Sweller et al., 2020) and concrete and abstract nouns (Andrà et al., 2020; Mathias et al., 2022; Repetto et al., 2017; Rodríguez-Cuadrado et al., 2023), but to the best of our knowledge, emotional nouns have never been studied using gestures. Earlier studies included emotional and abstract words categorized into one group, which could have led to confounding results. Although words such as *patience* and *cancelation* are both difficult to visualize, they differ in emotional valence. Therefore, our study was probably the first to specifically focus on the effects of gestures on the acquisition of emotional words. Based on the literature, we hypothesized that emotional words would demonstrate superior acquisition when they were learned through an embodied approach. Specifically, we predicted that these words would show better retention when accompanied by contextual information and gestures. Furthermore, emotional words were also expected to be recalled better than concrete words.

In the present study, we employed a within-subject design to compare four different conditions for the acquisition of 16 concrete words and 16 emotional words: (1) no gestures (NG), (2) gesture observation (GO), (3) gesture production (GP), and (4) situated gestures (SG). Participants' memory was assessed through two translation tasks and one recognition task 25 min after encoding and one week later. We predicted that the SG condition would demonstrate the highest learning efficacy, followed by the GP and GO conditions, whereas the NG condition would perform the poorest in vocabulary acquisition. The pre-registration form of the current study is available at: https://osf.io/zutb2/.

## 2. Method

### 2.1. Participants

Sixty-three participants (13 males, 50 females) between 17 and 32 years of age ($M = 19.13, SD = 2.53$) were recruited from the University of Toulouse - Jean Jaurs, in France. They had French as their native language and were enrolled in their first year in a Chinese as a Foreign Language course. At the time of the experiment, they were all familiar with the Chinese phonotactic and tones. They all provided written consent for the inclusion of their data in the analysis and publication, and the experiment was approved by the local Ethics Committee (approval number: 2024_811).

We conducted an a priori power analysis using G\*Power (Faul et al., 2007: Version 3.1.9.7), which indicated that a minimum sample size of
26 was required (with an effect size *f* = 0.25, alpha = 0.05, power = 0.85, number of measurements = 4). As we recruited 63 participants, we concluded that our sample size was sufficient to ensure adequate statistical power.

## 2.2. Materials

In this study, we introduced 32 novel two-syllable words in Mandarin Chinese with a length between four and eight letters (M = 6.03, SD = 1.09). Half of these were concrete words chosen from the list of Brodeur et al. (2010), who used a 5-point rating scale with 1 indicating a very low score and 5 indicating a very high score. The selected words matched in the level of familiarity (M = 4.32, SD = 0.36), imageability (M = 2.21, SD = 0.50), and manipulability (M = 3.47, SD = 0.61). The other half were emotional words selected from the list of Harpaintner et al. (2018), which matched in the level of abstractness (M = 2.63, SD = 0.47) and familiarity (M = 4.74, SD = 0.72). See Appendix A. We made sure that none of the words selected were previously taught or appeared in the textbook before the second semester of the year. For each word, an audio and a video recording were created. In the audio recording, the experimenter pronounced the word aloud in Mandarin three times. The video recording depicted the experimenter performing an iconic gesture related to the word form. Regarding concrete words, they performed an iconic gesture of utilizing an object. For example, the word *light bulb* - *dēngpào* was presented with the experimenter performing the gesture of installing a light bulb. Regarding emotional words, they performed an iconic gesture with a facial expression representing the emotion. For some emotions, the facial expressions and hand gestures were slightly exaggerated, as the videos were filmed in silence, and participants could only read the gestures and facial expressions to identify the emotion. See Fig. 1. The material is available online at: https://osf.io/hstwj.

## 2.3. Procedure

### 2.3.1. The pilot studies

Two tests were conducted to verify whether the gestures shown in the videos accurately corresponded to the meanings of emotional and concrete words. For emotional words, forty-seven young adults of different nationalities, aged between 18 and 26 years (M = 20.26, SD = 1.96), participated in a matching task. They viewed 16 gestures across four blocks, selected the corresponding word from four options, and

rated gesture-word compatibility on a 7-point scale (1 = poor match, 7 = perfect representation). All emotional words were correctly identified, with compatibility scores ranging from lowest (M = 4.54, SD = 1.57) to highest (M = 6.5, SD = 0.91). An identical procedure was used for concrete words, with ratings made by forty-nine young adults between 18 and 35 years old (M = 28.35, SD = 5.29). All concrete words were successfully matched, with compatibility ratings ranging from lowest (M = 4.06, SD = 1.73) to highest (M = 6.80, SD = 0.46). These analyses demonstrated that gestures were equally representative of both categories of words.

### 2.3.2. The learning conditions

The experiment was integrated as a voluntary exercise in a course of Mandarin Chinese. Professors in this course helped spread the study. Students interested in participating in the experiment were randomly allocated to one of the four classrooms. They entered in groups and participated in the experiment at the same time. After signing the informed consent form, they were invited to self-generate a code to keep their anonymity. They were instructed to learn 32 novel words in Mandarin and to remember as many word pairs as possible. Words were presented on the projector with a black background screen, and written in white in Times New Roman format. The list was divided into four learning blocks. In each block, four concrete words and four emotional words were presented in random order. Words were counterbalanced across conditions, meaning that for example, participants in group 1 would learn the word *lightbulb* - *dēngpào* in the no gesture condition, whereas those in group 2 would learn the same word in the gesture observation condition. Two training words in English were presented at the beginning of each condition so that participants could become acquainted with the learning condition. To prevent carry-over effects, the order of the conditions was predetermined as follows: no gestures, gesture observation, gesture production, and situated gestures. We hypothesized that if the gesture production condition came before the No Gesture condition, participants might have adopted a mental simulation strategy in the second one, potentially creating similar motor patterns in the brain and diminishing the distinction between the two conditions. See Fig. 2.

The list of words was repeated twice in each block, followed by a 1-minute pause before moving to the next encoding condition. In the No Gestures condition, the participants read the word aloud in Mandarin three times. In the Gesture Observation condition, they saw the experimenter perform an iconic gesture depicting the meaning of the word,

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 1. The gestures assigned for concrete word *light-bulb* (A) and emotional word *fury* (B).</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 2. The order of conditions in the learning process and their durations.</figcaption></figure>

and they read the word in Mandarin. In the Gesture Production condition, they repeated the gestures and words in Mandarin. Finally, in the Situated Gesture condition, they imagined a specific context and imitated a gesture. There was one representative context for each word. For example, when learning the word *bottle - píngzi*, participants were asked to imagine themselves drinking from a bottle in a gym. They then imitated the gesture and chose the vividness of their imagery on a 10-point scale, with 0 being not at all clear and 10 being very vivid. In the NG and GO conditions, participants only had 3 s to repeat the word in Chinese, whereas in the GP and SG conditions, they had 7 s. This is mainly because in the last two conditions, learners were instructed to pronounce the words in Chinese three times before repeating the gesture. We did not extend the time to 7 s in the NG and GO condition to prevent them from internal rehearsals. Furthermore, in the SG condition, learners had an additional time of 15 s for each word for the phases of imageability and questionnaire. We set a time of 10 s to make sure that there was enough time to read the instructions and imagine the contexts (see Fig. 3). Furthermore, during the questionnaire at the end of each word encoding, they had 5 s to indicate the vividness of the imagery. Each block was repeated twice before they were introduced to the next learning condition.

The training phase lasted for 30 min. Afterwards, the participants had a pause of 25 min to complete a brief demographic questionnaire and a Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ: Santarpia et al., 2008) to measure the level of imaginary. This questionnaire consists of rating a series of scenarios on a 1 to 5 scale; in which 1 meant “no image at all” and 5 indicated “a perfectly clear and vivid image”. The demographic questionnaire included general questions about their background education, including some about their learning experience, their strategy when recalling words, and their feelings about repeating gestures during the experiment.

Memory tests were carried out on paper. In the translation test from French to Mandarin, the participants were given a sheet of paper with the words in French and asked to write the translations in Mandarin. They were told that the tons were not considered and that they had 5 min to complete. This test aimed to measure active productive memory and verify whether learners retained the word's meaning and its written form in L2. They then continued with a translation from Mandarin to French. They heard words pronounced in Mandarin once, and were asked to write the translations in French. They were explicitly told not to write the word in the Chinese transcription form as they had heard it since they only had 20 s before the next word was pronounced. This test investigated whether they understood the meaning of words in L2. In these two translation tests, learners had to search for the correct word in their mental lexicon, which could further examine their passive and active memorization. Finally, in the recognition tests, participants heard the word in Mandarin and had to choose the correct answer among four options. We made sure that, among the four options, there were always two concrete and two emotional words. This test measured the strength between form and meaning and examined whether learners could distinguish correct word-meaning pairs from distractors.

One week later, without prior notice, the experimenter contacted the professors to visit the classroom for a post-test to investigate how well the words were retained in the long term. The experimenter did not inform participants about the delayed test to avoid mental rehearsal or revision during the week. The post-tests were identical in procedure to the immediate tests.

## 2.4. Scoring

Each correct answer was awarded one point. The synonyms in French were accepted. If, for the word *flashlight - diǎntōng*, participants wrote *lamp* instead of *torche*, it was considered correct. Small errors were permitted in the writing form of the Chinese word and tones were not considered. A full score was given when the word was correctly written or understandable. For example, if the word *zipper - lāliān* was written as *lalen*, the participants obtained 1 point. However, if only half of the phoneme was correct, they would obtain 0.5 points, for example, if participants wrote *lalei* or *la*. If the word was written in a similar orthography, but in a different order, for example, *lanlai*, no score would be given. Non-responses, incorrect responses, and multiple responses received a score of zero. Data analyses of the scores of different tests are

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3. The learning conditions.</figcaption></figure>
available at OSF: https://osf.io/3c8ys.

## 3. Results

Two separate analyses were conducted with repeated measures ANOVA with the encoding (NG - no gesture, GO - gesture observation, GP - gesture production, and SG - situated gesture), types of words (concrete and emotional) as within-subject factors. One for the immediate test and another for the delayed post-test. All statistical analyses were performed using Jamovi Software (Version 2.3.28), and post hoc comparisons were adjusted with Tukey's correction. Five participants were excluded from our data analyses due to the following reasons: they had previous experience learning Chinese, they did not follow the instructions correctly, and their mother tongue was a tonal language. Therefore, we analyzed data from 58 students. Three of the participants did not complete the recognition task. Only 41 students participated in the post-test. Prior to analyses, the dataset was cleansed by excluding 5 participants in the immediate translation test from French to Mandarin as they were identified as outliers when using the boxplot inspection in Jamovi (see Table 1).

### 3.1. Immediate translation test from French to Mandarin Chinese

There was a significant main effect of the encoding conditions, *F* (3,156) = 12.3, *p* < .001, *η*²*p* = 0.191. A Tukey's post hoc comparison indicated that words learned in the SG condition (*M* = 1.44, *SD* = 1.14) differed significantly from words learned in the NG condition (*M* = 0.59, *SD* = 0.73) and GO condition (*M* = 0.64, *SD* = 0.82), *p* < .001. There was also a significant difference between words encoded in the SG and GP conditions (*M* = 0.75, *SD* = 0.96), *p* = .002, which suggested that imagining oneself in a representative context led to superior memory performance. There was no significant difference between the words learned in the GO and GP conditions, *p* = .891, indicating that observing gestures performed by the experimenter activated motor regions and induced the same retention as performing the gestures themselves. When taking a closer look at how each condition affected the memorization of concrete and emotional words, the analysis demonstrated that the was a significant interaction of the encoding conditions on the word type recall, *F* (7,364) = 6.23, *p* < .001, *η*²*p* = 0.107. A post hoc analysis showed that there were no significant differences in the acquisition of concrete words across conditions. However, regarding the encoding of emotional words, the results showed that participants recalled the emotional words learned in the SG condition (*M* = 0.88, *SD* = 0.93) more accurately than in the NG (*M* = 0.33, *SD* = 0.51), *p* = .006 and GO (*M* = 0.26, *SD* = 0.43), *p* < .001 conditions. There was a marginal difference between emotional words encoded in the GP (*M* = 0.42, *SD* = 0.75) and SG conditions, *p* = .068.

<table><caption>**Table 1**

Descriptive statistics.</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="3"></th><th colspan="4">Learning conditions</th><th colspan="4">Situated Gesture</th></tr><tr><th colspan="2">No Gestures</th><th colspan="2">Gesture Observation</th><th colspan="2">Gesture Production</th><th colspan="2">Situated Gesture</th></tr><tr><th>M</th><th>SD</th><th>M</th><th>SD</th><th>M</th><th>SD</th><th>M</th><th>SD</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td colspan="9"><strong>Immediate tests</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Translation (FR-CH*)</td><td>0.59</td><td>0.73</td><td>0.64</td><td>0.82</td><td>0.75</td><td>0.96</td><td>1.44</td><td>1.14</td></tr><tr><td>Translation (CH-FR)</td><td>1.00</td><td>0.98</td><td>1.21</td><td>1.29</td><td>1.23</td><td>1.09</td><td>1.74</td><td>1.62</td></tr><tr><td>Recognition test</td><td>3.17</td><td>1.65</td><td>3.30</td><td>1.95</td><td>3.59</td><td>1.91</td><td>4.22</td><td>1.88</td></tr><tr><td colspan="9"><strong>Delayed tests</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Translation (FR-CH)</td><td>0.46</td><td>0.66</td><td>0.39</td><td>0.61</td><td>0.47</td><td>0.60</td><td>0.53</td><td>0.66</td></tr><tr><td>Translation (CH-FR)</td><td>1.13</td><td>1.45</td><td>0.87</td><td>0.95</td><td>1.00</td><td>1.15</td><td>1.31</td><td>1.26</td></tr><tr><td>Recognition test</td><td>3.79</td><td>1.76</td><td>4.11</td><td>2.14</td><td>3.95</td><td>1.75</td><td>4.11</td><td>1.62</td></tr></tbody></table>

### 3.2. Immediate translation test from Mandarin Chinese to French

Mauchly's test of sphericity indicated that the assumption of sphericity had been violated, *p* = .006. Therefore, the Greenhouse-Geisser correction was applied (*ε* = 0.836). The analysis showed a significant effect of encoding condition, *F* (3,168) = 4.55, *p* = .007, *η*²*p* = 0.075. Words learned in the SG condition (*M* = 1.74, *SD* = 1.62) were more accurately translated than those in the NG condition (*M* = 1.00, *SD* = 0.98), *p* = .011. However, no differences were found between the SG and GP conditions (*M* = 1.23, *SD* = 1.09), *p* = .114, or between the GP and GO conditions (*M* = 1.21, *SD* = 1.29), *p* = 1.00.

Analyses of the effects of learning conditions on word-type recall demonstrated a significant difference, *F* (7,385) = 2.95, *p* < .005, *η*²*p* = 0.051. However, a post hoc analysis did not report any significant differences when comparing concrete across the four conditions. Similarly, no significant differences were found when comparing the emotional words across the four conditions. This indicates that when translating towards French, concrete and emotional words learned across different conditions were equally retained.

### 3.3. Immediate recognition test

The findings revealed a significant difference across encoding conditions, *F* (3,159) = 5.37, *p* = .002, *η*²*p* = 0.092. Words learned in the SG condition (*M* = 4.22, *SD* = 1.88) were recognized better than those learned in the NG (*M* = 3.17, *SD* = 1.65), *p* = .003, and GO conditions (*M* = 3.30, *SD* = 1.95), *p* = .016. A marginal difference was found between the conditions of SG and GP (*M* = 3.59, *SD* = 1.91), *p* = .066. However, no significant differences were found between the GO and GP conditions, *p* = .709. Analyses of the effects of learning conditions on word-type recall demonstrated a main interaction, *F* (7,371) = 4.80, *p* < .001, *η*²*p* = 0.083. A post hoc analysis of the encoding condition and category of the words showed that concrete words learned in the SG condition (*M* = 2.24, *SD* = 1.06) were better recognized than those learned in the NG condition (*M* = 1.65, *SD* = 1.10), *p* = .026, and a marginal difference was found between the emotional words learned in the SG (*M* = 1.98, *SD* = 1.17) and GP conditions (*M* = 1.52, *SD* = 1.24), *p* = .056.

### 3.4. Delayed test

We conducted a separate ANOVA with repeated measures for the delayed test. The paradigm presented was 4 × 2 with the encoding conditions and the type of words as within-subject factors.

In the translation test from French to Mandarin, there was no significant main effect of the encoding conditions, *F* (3,114) = 0.378, *p* = .769, *η*²*p* = 0.010. Furthermore, no significant differences were found regarding the effects of the learning condition on word-type recall, *F* (7,266) = 1.91, *p* = .068, *η*²*p* = 0.048, which indicated that word recall was similar across conditions and there was no interaction between the

<footnote>* FR-CH (French to Mandarin Chinese), CH-FR (Mandarin Chinese to French).</footnote>
encoding condition and type of word.

In the translation test from Mandarin to French, there was no sig-
nificant main effect of the encoding conditions, F (3,114) = 1.50, p =
.220, η²p = 0.038. Although analyses revealed significant differences
when examining the effects of learning conditions on word-type recall, F
(7,266) = 2.55, p = .015, η²p = 0.063, post hoc comparisons showed no
differences in recall performance between conditions when examining
concrete (all p > .05) and emotional (all p > .05) words separately.

In the recognition test, we did not find a significant main effect of the encoding conditions, *F* (3,111) = 0.459, *p* = .711, *η*<sup>2</sup>*p* = 0.0012, and we did not find a significant main effect of the encoding conditions on word-type recall, *F* (7,259) = 0.808, *p* = .582, *η*<sup>2</sup>*p* = 0.021.

In order to examine whether emotional words were better recalled
than concrete words, we conducted a mixed repeated measures ANOVA
focused on the words themselves as invariable, with the encoding con-
dition as a within-subjects factor (NG, GO, GP, SG) and the category of
the word (concrete vs. emotional) as a between-subjects factor. The
analysis of the translation test from French to Mandarin revealed that
there were no significant differences when comparing the recall of
concrete and emotional words, *F* (1,26) = 0.131, *p* = .720, *η*²*p* = 0.005.
Similar results were reported in the translation test from Mandarin to
French, *F* (1,27) = 0.817, *p* = .374, *η*²*p* = 0.029. These findings suggest
that rather than category, the recall of these words is affected by the
encoding condition. In both translation tests, we found that for concrete
words, there was no significant difference across the conditions, whereas
for emotional words, the SG was the most efficient encoding condition.
See Fig. 4.

To determine the effects of imagery on the words learned in the SG
condition, linear regression analyses were performed on the immediate
translation task from French to Mandarin and vice versa. Their VVIQ
scores were entered as a predictor variable, and the number of words
correctly recalled in both translation tests as the dependent variable.
The model revealed no significant relationship between visual imagery
scores and word recall in the French-Mandarin translation test, R² =
0.009, F (1,56) = 0.489, p = .487. Visual imagery ability did not
significantly predict word retention, b = 0.004, SE = 0.006, p = .487.
Similarly, in the translation test Mandarin-French, no significant rela-
tionship was found between the imageability scores and word recall, R²
= 0.006, F (1,56) = 0.354, p = .555. The regression coefficients were not
significant, b = 0.004, SE = 0.007, p = .555.

We then conducted another linear regression analysis to examine
whether the level of imageability of each word could have any effect on
the retention of these words. As mentioned in Section 2.3.2, in the Sit-
uated Gesture condition, learners had to rate on a scale from 1 to 10 the
vividness of their imagery when they were instructed to imagine
themselves in a specific context and repeat the gesture. We only exam-
ined the effects of imageability on the translation test from French to
Mandarin because we were particularly interested in the retention of
these words in L2. The model revealed no significant relationship be-
tween imageability and recall scores, R² = 0.003, F (1,462) = 1.34, p =
.247.

Finally, we examined the participants' feelings regarding the imita-
tion of gestures in the classroom environment. A simple analysis
demonstrated that 20 % of participants reported having felt nothing

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 4. Number of words learned in each condition (NG, GO, GP, SG) and word type (concrete vs. emotional) in the immediate and delayed translation tests Mandarin-French and French-Mandarin. Error bars show 95 % confidence intervals for the estimated values.</figcaption></figure>

<footnote>* indicates *p* < .05. In the immediate translation test from French to Mandarin and from Mandarin to French, there were significant differences between emotional words learned in the SG condition compared to the NG and GO conditions.</footnote>
about repeating the gestures and just followed the instructions; 42.35 % found gestures fun and enjoyable; 22.35 % claimed that they felt shy about repeating the gestures in front of their classmates; and 15.29 % felt uncomfortable about gestures.

## 4. Discussion

This study investigated the integration of an embodied approach in teaching L2 words to young adults in a classroom environment, notably the impact of gestures during a brief training session. We investigated the effects of gesture observation, gesture production and gestures situated in a representative context during the acquisition of concrete and emotional words in L2.

Our first hypothesis stated that producing gestures would lead to better retention of the words in comparison to observing gestures. However, this was not confirmed. The results revealed that both conditions led to similar memory performance in the short-term and long-term. Several factors can explain the lack of differences between observing and reproducing gestures, such as the age of the participants, experimental design, and number of items to be memorized. For example, studies conducted on children often report a stronger effect of gesture production (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2012; James & Swain, 2011; Tellier, 2005) compared to studies on adults, which frequently show similar outcomes for both conditions (e.g., He-Zhang et al., 2025a; Baills et al., 2019; Sweller et al., 2020). Özer and Göksun (2020) reported that the use and processing of gestures differ according to individual characteristics and cognitive resources. In fact, gestures have a greater impact on children than adults (Austin & Sweller, 2014). One possibility is that adults have more experience performing actions and gestures. Therefore, the semantic meanings of gestures and visual imagery associated with words are richer than those of children (Bauer et al., 2017).

The experimental design also plays a crucial role. For example, in within-list designs, where participants learn some items by observing and others by performing them, the superiority of performing gestures is more evident (e.g., Macedonia et al., 2014). However, in pure-list designs, where all items are learned under a single condition, the positive effects of gestures diminish (e.g., Sweller et al., 2020). Although the present study presented a within-subjects paradigm, the number of words to be memorized in each condition might not be enough to obtain significant differences, as the literature confirmed that for long lists (e.g., over 24 items), performing gestures is more beneficial than observing, whereas shorter lists yield similar results for both conditions (Steffens et al., 2015). In the present study, only 8 words were presented in each condition.

The present findings demonstrated that observing and imitating gestures were equally effective in learning concrete and emotional words. It suggests that action execution may not be essential for adult learners; instead, motor imagery might be sufficient to induce embodied learning benefits. Therefore, the positive effects of gestures are driven by explanations of motor imagery, rather than motor traces.

Our second hypothesis was confirmed. Our results demonstrated that, in both the translation and recognition tests, the average score of words recalled in the situated gesture condition was superior in comparison to the other conditions. In the immediate test from French to Mandarin, there was a significant difference between the SG and GP conditions, which suggests that gestures performed in a representative context led to better retention than gestures repeated in an isolated way. This was notable during the encoding of the emotional words. For example, when introducing the word *disgust*, students retained this word better when they were instructed to think about a specific scenario highly related to the feeling of disgust than when they observed the gesture or when they repeated the gesture solely. Consistent with previous studies (Abbassi et al., 2015; Schmidt, 2012; Shablack et al., 2020), the findings indicated that enriching emotional words with contextual information can strengthen their semantic representation. In this case, emotional words accompanied by gestures grounded in

specific situations could have resembled the acquisition of emotional words in the L1. The superior average score for words learned in the SG conditions demonstrates that cognition is embodied and situated, further indicating that the context serves as a retrieval cue. Nevertheless, this difference was only found in the immediate tests, as one week later, the number of words recalled decreased notably, showing that for Mandarin beginner-level students, learning 32 novel words in a brief training session was considered a challenging task.

Our third hypothesis was partially supported. As mentioned above, emotional words were better recalled when enriched by gestures and contextual information, thereby supporting the positive effects of an embodied teaching approach when introducing emotional words in L2. However, when comparing the recall of concrete and emotional words, our results demonstrated opposite results. Contrary to expectations and previous studies (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; El-Dakhs & Altarriba, 2018; Ferré et al., 2015), emotional words were not remembered better than concrete words. This inconsistency may be due to the characteristics of the words. Concrete words have high levels of imageability and context availability. When learning the word pair *bottle-píngzi* across the four encoding conditions, a mental image of the bottle was evoked in the brains of the learners. However, the same pattern cannot be replicated for emotional words, as they are characterized by a less rich semantic representation (Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2012). Emotional words can be disembodied if they are encoded superficially without the involvement of imagery and context (Abbassi et al., 2015). Therefore, when learning the word pair *fear-hǎipǎ* in the No Gesture Condition, it is harder to evoke a mental association, whereas learning the same word pair in the Situated Gesture condition, the combination of a specific context, such as *seeing a spider* + the gesture of being afraid, can lead to a more embodied learning process. The results of our study indicated that unlike concrete words, emotional words need to be enriched and contextualized to achieve similar learning outcomes to concrete words. Only in this way can a more similar encoding context, similar to the encoding of emotional words in L1 be achieved. Furthermore, it is important to mention that in the GO, GP, and SG conditions, emotional words were presented with both iconic gestures and congruent facial expressions, whereas concrete words were presented with iconic gestures and neutral facial expressions. Communicative interaction includes not only gestures but also facial expressions (Frith, 2009); these play a crucial role, as they enhance attention capture and facilitate emotional resonance (Adolph, 2002). In fact, the findings of Pi et al. (2022, 2023) concluded that instructors' facial expressions played a more important role than gestures. Their results indicated that students were more strongly attracted to instructors who showed happy facial expressions than those who maintained neutral or bored expressions, which in turn enhanced learning performance. They further suggested that L2 instructors should be encouraged to use happy facial expressions while minimizing—or even avoiding—the use of body gestures. Therefore, in our study, the use of facial expression when introducing emotional words might have influenced positively the recall of emotional words in the SG condition.

In this experiment, we included emotional words as a subcategory of abstract words. Whereas previous studies have consistently shown superior retention for concrete words compared to abstract words (Mathias et al., 2022; Rodríguez-Cuadrado et al., 2023), our study indicated that this advantage disappeared when abstract words were emotionally charged rather than socially charged. We observed equivalent retention rates for emotional abstract words and concrete words.

To verify that the participants' level of imageability did not have any effect on the words learned in the SG condition, two analyses were conducted: a VVIQ questionnaire that examined their general level of visual vividness and a more specific questionnaire examining the imageability of each word. The results of both tests revealed that the recall of words learned in the SG condition was not predicted by their level of imageability as no significant differences were reported between participants with high and low scores.
Overall, the findings demonstrated the beneficial effects of gestures in L2 learning. However, we found some challenges when employing them in classroom settings. Similar to the study by *Macedonia et al.* (2014), we found that some participants refused to repeat the gestures or did not take the task seriously. In a questionnaire handed out after the encoding phase, learners answered a question concerning their feelings when performing the gestures. While majority of learners reported having found gestures fun and enjoyable, some participants did mention that they felt shy and/or uncomfortable about repeating the gestures in front of their classmates. This indicates that whereas children consider embodied learning enjoyable and preferable, young adults do not feel the same way. During the experimental phase, we observed that, although the gestures of the experimenter were sometimes exaggerated, learners generally tended to perform minimal gestures with small arm movements.

## 5. Conclusions

The present study provides new insights into the integration of gestures in L2 classrooms with young adults. Although early research has demonstrated the positive effects of gesture production and encouraged the use of gestures when introducing a new lexicon, it is worth noticing that young adults do not feel as enthusiastic or motivated as children about actively involving their bodies in the learning process. Given that both gesture observation and production lead to similar memory performance results, motor imagery is sufficient to induce the benefits of embodied learning. Additionally, the findings of our study indicate that imagining a representative situation is an important factor that positively affects memory recall of L2 words. Hence, future researchers can conduct experiments by combining motor imagery and situated imagery, for example, imagining oneself executing an action in a specific location, as an alternative embodied learning approach. In this case, researchers can address a larger audience: participants who feel shy about repeating gestures in front of the classroom can equally engage in an active learning process without uncomfortable feelings. The current study presents some limitations that ask for further research. As it consisted of a brief training session on the new lexicon, the average number of correctly recalled words was quite low, and only significant differences were found in the immediate test. Future studies could improve the experimental design by either reducing the number of target words or extending training across multiple sessions, given that 32 words with six repetitions were found to be challenging for novice Mandarin learners within a single 30-minute session. In addition, future researchers should carefully control the duration of each learning condition. While we attempted to equalize the time across conditions, the SG condition lasted longer (11 min 62 s) because additional time was required additional for the phases of imageability and the questionnaire, whereas the other conditions were shorter (NG - 5 min 5 s; GO - 5 min 34 s; GP - 7 min 2 s). Furthermore, the time devoted to word repetition also differed across conditions, with only 3 s to pronounce the word in the NG and GO conditions, in contrast to 7 s in the GP and SG conditions. We did not extend the time to 7 s in the NG and GO condition to prevent internal rehearsals, although we are aware that the time differences across conditions might have negatively impacted the memory performances in these two conditions. As learners had more time in the GP and SG conditions, it is possible that they used this additional time to further repeat the words mentally. To better control and equalize the time across conditions, we propose the following suggestions: First, in the NG condition, instead of using only an audio recording, future researchers could present a video of the experimenter pronouncing the words without making any body movements, whereas in the SG condition, the last phase of 5 s could be removed, as our results indicated that the imageability of each word did not have any impact on the word recall. Second, when instructing learners to repeat the word in Chinese, future researchers could equalize the time across the four conditions (e.g., 5 s) by asking participants in the GP and SG to pronounce the word simultaneously with the gesture performance. Although this procedure would reduce the time differences across conditions, it would still not be possible to achieve complete equality.

Finally, further research is required on the encoding of L2 emotional words from an embodied perspective. Unlike concrete and abstract words, words denoting emotions have attracted less attention in the domains of L2 and gestures.

In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that context matters when performing gestures, particularly when learning emotional words. Situational features constitute a distinctive cue that makes emotional words more attached to the body, resembling the acquisition of such words in L1.

## CRediT authorship contribution statement

**Yuting He-Zhang:** Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization.

**Karine Duvignau:** Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. **Nathalie Huet:** Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Formal analysis, Conceptualization.

## Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

## Acknowledgements

We want to thank the following professors, colleagues and friends for their help in collecting the data of students: Jiaqi Wang, Jiyue Zhi-Laborde, Enhao Leger-Zheng, Tzu Chieh Huang, Yiping Du, Carla Ganino, and Julie Martinot.

## Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105806.

## Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

The effects of situated gestures on mandarin chinese word learning (Original data) (OSF)

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