ABSTRACT
Previous research suggests hand gestures aid L2 pronunciation learning, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study examines if accurate gesture imitation during phonetic training predicts the accuracy of non-native sounds produced while doing a pedagogical hand gesture. Twenty-nine Catalan speakers, unfamiliar with Chinese, learned to pronounce Chinese aspirated plosives while mimicking gestures representing the aspirated sounds. Results revealed that more precise gesture shape and better gesture–speech alignment predicted more accurate speech imitation, emphasizing the significance of the spatiotemporal gesture–speech coupling in embodied L2 phonetic training.
