A new article published in ITL – International Journal of Applied Linguistics sheds light on the multimodal strategies adults use when communicating with children. The study, entitled “Embodying stories: Adults increase the use of character-viewpoint gesture in telling stories to children”, was authored by Jiali Li, Sara Coego, Dr. Ingrid Vilà-Giménez, and Dr. Pilar Prieto, with Dr. Vilà-Giménez—member of the Comparative Minds Research Group—serving as shared last co-author.

The research investigates how storytellers adapt their gestures depending on their audience. In particular, it focuses on character-viewpoint gestures, in which speakers physically embody a character’s actions, emotions, or perspective while narrating events. These gestures allow listeners to experience stories in a more vivid and engaging way, integrating bodily movement into the construction of meaning.

The findings show that adults significantly increase their use of character-viewpoint gestures when telling stories to children compared to adults. This audience-sensitive adaptation suggests that speakers strategically enhance the embodied and expressive dimensions of communication to support children’s comprehension and engagement during storytelling.

Overall, the study contributes to a growing body of research highlighting the importance of multimodal communication in language development and education. By showing how speakers naturally adjust their gestural behavior for younger audiences, the findings provide new insights into the role of gesture in effective child-directed communication.

The article is available in open access at: https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/itl.25006.li