In this study, we examined the efficacy of gestures for the acquisition of L2 segmental phonology. Despite teachers’ frequent use of gestures in the classroom to teach pronunciation, the field lacks empirical support for this practice. We attempted to fill this gap by investigating the effects of handclapping on the development of L2 Japanese segmentals (long vowels, geminates, and moraic nasals). We assigned L1 English university students in beginning Japanese courses to one of two groups where they practiced pronouncing the targets with or without handclapping in the classroom. They also completed picture elicitation (production) and dictation (perception) tasks as pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests. The results show that, on the delayed perception posttest, only those who saw and performed handclapping maintained the instructional effect, indicating that the memory‐enhancing effect of gestures, at least in the form of handclapping, might reach the level of segmental phonology in L2 acquisition.

中文翻译：

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手势对第二语言发音的功效：手掌教学作为课堂教学工具的探索性研究

在这项研究中，我们检查了手势对于获取L2分段音韵学的功效。尽管教师在教室中经常使用手势来教发音，但该领域仍缺乏对此实践的经验支持。我们试图通过研究拍手对日本L2日语节段（长元音，双瓣和鼻ora）发展的影响来填补这一空白。我们将初级日语课程的L1英语大学生分配给两个小组之一，他们在教室里练习有无拍手的发音目标。他们还完成了图像启发（制作）和听写（感知）任务，包括预测，立即测验和延迟测验。结果表明，在延迟知觉后测中，