Role of speech associated gestures of the teacher in Medical education - a comparative study

Abstract

Background and aim: Gestures are generally hand or body movements that express the feelings and intentions. It’s a universal feature of communication and is tightly timed with speech. Gesture and Speech combine to reveal meaning that is not fully captured in one modality alone, as they share a common neural relationship. Many earlier studies have revealed the importance of gestures in improving learning in school children. Studies on the role of gestures in improving the learning skill in medicine are scarce. This study was carried out to find out whether gesturing improved the learning outcome of medical students. Materials and methods: Ninety four students from first MBBS batch were recruited and randomized in to four groups A,B,C and D. Group A and B (Topic I (n=46)) consists of 23 students each, whereas group C and D (Topic II (n=48)) consists of 24 students each. Group A and C who were taught with gestures formed the study group; Group B and D taught without gestures acted as control. Two lectures on two different topics were taken for both the study and the control groups without any audiovisual aids for 20 minutes during tutorial time in the department of Physiology and the results were analyzed statistically using Wilcoxan Ranksum test. Result: Results of the study on two lecture topics showed that the scores of the students taught with gestures was higher with a p value of 0.005 and 0.0248 than those taught without gestures both immediately as well as a week after the lecture. Conclusion: Gestures do have a definite role in improving learning in medical students. Along with other teaching aids, gestures should also become an integral part of teaching.

Keywords

• teacher
• co-speech gestures
• medicine
• learning