How can gesture cues enhance Japanese pronunciation training

Gesture cues can enhance Japanese pronunciation training by providing kinesthetic and visual support that helps learners understand and produce the timing and rhythm of Japanese sounds, especially the mora timing, which is crucial in Japanese phonology. Incorporating rhythmic gestures or choreographic movements aligned with speech can improve learners’ awareness, perception, and production of Japanese morae, thereby aiding more accurate pronunciation.

Key points on how gesture cues help:

• Gesture-based kinesthetic activities can optimize articulation, respiratory control, and rhythmic pacing of speech sounds, leading to improved pronunciation accuracy and speech fluency in Japanese learners. ¹
• Gestures can serve as embodied representations of speech elements, helping learners internalize and retrieve the correct pronunciation patterns more easily. ^{2, 3}
• Using gestures along with auditory input and visual aids enhances learners’ engagement and retention of pronunciation features. ⁴
• Specific gestures that represent Japanese mora structure help learners segment and produce sounds with correct timing. ^{5, 6}
• Multimodal learning approaches that include gestures positively affect learners’ perception and evaluation of non-native speech, making pronunciation training more effective. ^{7, 8}
• Combining gestures with pronunciation training in technology-enhanced language learning systems can support better feedback and correction mechanisms. ⁹

In summary, integrating gesture cues in Japanese pronunciation training supports learners by combining visual, kinesthetic, and auditory modalities, enhancing their ability to perceive and produce Japanese sounds with accurate timing and rhythm, especially important for mastering mora timing in this language. ^{1, 2, 4, 5}

References

• Biomechanical approaches to language learning investigating the impact of kinesthetic activities on Japanese pronunciation and fluency

• Bringing back the body into the mind: gestures enhance word learning in foreign language

• Bringing back the body into the mind: gestures enhance word learning in foreign language

• Technology-enhanced multimodal approaches in classroom L2 pronunciation training

• Exploring the role of hand gestures in learning novel phoneme contrasts and vocabulary in a second language

• Exploring the role of hand gestures in learning novel phoneme contrasts and vocabulary in a second language

• Emblem Gestures Improve Perception and Evaluation of Non-native Speech

• Emblem Gestures Improve Perception and Evaluation of Non-native Speech

• Effects of Pronunciation Practice System Based on Personalized CG Animations of Mouth Movement Model

• Using Haiku as Mini Pronunciation Lessons to Enhance Awareness, Perception, and Production of Mora Timing and Special Moras in Japanese as an Second Language

• Music and Choreography Metaphors in Spoken Language Rhythm Modelling and Their Application to Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training for Mora-Timed Japanese

• A case study : How do Japanese learners of English learn to use acoustic cues to differentiate stressed and unstressed syllables in pronunciation training? (荻内勝之教授退任記念号)

• Enhancing English Pronunciation and Word Differentiation Through Virtual Reality: A Study on Interactive Learning and Training

• Enhancing English Pronunciation and Word Differentiation Through Virtual Reality: A Study on Interactive Learning and Training

• Gesture to Learn, Hum to Speak: Promoting L2 Pronunciation through Non-Verbal Techniques

• Cross-linguistic transfer of acoustic cues: Perception of Japanese vowel length by learners from Vietnamese-speaking background

• Gesture Recognition System Using Reduced Graphene Oxide-Enhanced Hydrogel Strain Sensors for Rehabilitation Training.

• A real-time articulatory visual feedback approach with target presentation for second language pronunciation learning.

• USE OF GESTURE FOR CORRECTING PRONUNCIATION ERRORS

• A Kinetic Approach to Understanding Communication and Context in Japanese

• Benefits of Enacting and Observing Gestures on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

• The Role of Gesture in the Second Language Learning and Teaching

• The Utilization of the “Tsutaeru Hatsuon” Online Media in Learning Japanese Accents and Intonations

• Nihongo Speech Trainer: A Pronunciation Training System for Japanese Sounds

• JSUT corpus: free large-scale Japanese speech corpus for end-to-end speech synthesis

• Gestures as Scaffolding to Learn Vocabulary in a Foreign Language