This paper explores cut-offs in the oral narrations of Spanish native speakers in their mother tongue (L1), and in their language-under-study, English (L2). Fluency in the L2 varies with proficiency, and so cut-offs offer a possible means of evaluating this. However, there are certain aspects of fluency which might be common to the L1 and the L2, suggesting that the L1 and L2 share cognitive factors that lead to similar disfluency patterns. To determine if cut-offs are reliable markers of L2 fluency, independent of those occurring in the L1, we assessed the cut-off patterns in the L1 and L2 narrations of this group of speakers, following a multimodal approach.We observed similarities in both languages, potentially indicating that speakers use comparable cut-off-gesture patterns in the L1 and L2. We conclude that using speakers’ cut-offs in an L2 to gauge proficiency is meaningful only if the L1 cut-off behaviour is known.

Previous studies on gestures and personality suggest an ambiguous picture of the effects of the various personality dimensions on the different types of speech-gestures and adaptors. In foreign language learning an additional variable to take into account is proficiency, which some studies have shown to affect gestures. In this study, we explore how various intrinsic variables, including personality, proficiency, gender and age affect the gestures of 61 Cantonese speakers of English as a second language. Participants were asked to narrate a video cartoon. Their proficiency and the frequency of gestures produced was based on those narrations. A functional categorization of gestures was followed, dividing them into semantic and discursive, and that also noted adaptors and micro-gestures, referred to as “flutters.” Personality was self-reported using the 44 question Big-Five inventory. Correlations and a series of generalized linear models were developed to explore the interplay between variables. Agreeableness was found to be positively correlated with semantic gestures; and neuroticism and age were negatively correlated with flutter duration. Contrary to the findings from previous studies, no significant relationships were found between neuroticism and adaptors or semantic gestures, nor between extraversion or openness and semantic gestures. Proficiency and gender had little effect on gestures. As personality has been shown to be an important factor in gesture production in mother tongue speakers, we expected to also see a similar result with foreign language speakers, this not being so suggests that other variables, aside from those tested, should be considered. In particular, the results suggest that emotion and emotional constructs, such as anxiety, self-confidence or empathy, might have a greater impact on gesture production than proficiency or personality, a point which should be taken into account especially in language evaluation contexts or professional contexts with second language speakers.

Adaptors, self-touching movements that supposedly lack communicative significance, have often been overlooked by researchers focusing on co-speech gestures. A significant complication in their study arises from the somewhat ambiguous definition of adaptors. Examples of these movements include self-manipulations like scratching a leg, bringing a hand to the mouth or head, and fidgeting, nervous tics, and micro hand or finger movements. Research rooted in psychology indicates a link between adaptors and negative emotional states. However, psycholinguistic approaches suggest that these movements might be related to the communicative task. This study analyzes adaptors in forty Cantonese speakers of English as a second language in monologues and dialogues in face-to-face and online contexts, revealing that adaptors serve functions beyond emotional expression. Our data indicate that adaptors might have cognitive functions. We also identify micro-movements, flutter-like adaptors or “flutters” for short, that may have interactive functions conveying engagement. These findings challenge the traditional view of adaptors as purely non-communicative. Participants’ self-reports corroborate these interpretations, highlighting the complexity and individual variability in adaptor use. This study advocates for the inclusion of adaptors in gesture analysis, which may enrich understanding of gesture–speech integration and cognitive and emotional processes in communication.