阅读理解

FredericMishkinwho'sbeenaprofessoratColumbiaBusinessSchoolforalmost30yearsisgoodatsolvingproblemsandexpressingideas．Whetherhe'sstandinginfrontofalecturehallorengagedinacasualconversationhishandsarealwayswavingandpointing．Whenhewasingraduateschooloneofhisprofessorswassoannoyedbythisconstantgesturingthathemadetheyoungeconomistsitonhishandswheneverhevisitedtheprofessor'soffice．

ItturnsouthoweverthatMishkin'sprofessorhaditexactlywrong．Gesturedoesn'tpreventbutpromotesclearthoughtandspeech．Researchdemonstratesthatthemovementswemakewithourhandswhenwetalkformakindofsecondlanguageaddinginformationthat'sabsentfromourwords．It'slearning'ssecretcode：Gesturerevealswhatweknow．Itrevealswhatwedon'tknow．What'smoretheagreement(orlackofagreement)betweenwhatourvoicessayandhowourhandsmoveoffersacluetoourreadinesstolearn．

ManyofthestudiesestablishingtheimportanceofgesturetolearninghavebeenconductedbySusanGoldin-MeadowaprofessorofpsychologyattheUniversityofChicago．"Wechangeourmindsbymovingourhands"writesGoldin-Meadowinareviewofthiswork．Particularlysignificantarewhatshecalls"mismatches"betweenoralexpressionandphysicalgestures．Astudentmightsaythataheavierballfallsfasterthanalightoneforexamplebutmakeagestureindicatingthattheyfallatthesameratewhichiscorrect．Suchdifferencesindicatethatwe'removingfromonelevelofunderstandingtoanother．Thethoughtsexpressedbyhandmotionsareoftenournewestandmostadvancedideasabouttheproblemwe'reworkingon;wecan'tyetabsorbtheseconceptsintolanguagebutwecancapturetheminmovement．

Goldin-Meadow'smorerecentworkstrewsnotonlythatgestureshowsourreadinesstolearnbutthatitactuallyhelpstobringlearningabout．Itdoessointwoways．Firstitelicits(引出)helpfulbehaviorfromothersaroundus．Goldin-Meadowhasfoundthatadultsrespondtochildren'sspeech-gesturemismatchesbyad