New Research Shows How Adult Language Learners Transfer Both Pronunciation and Head Movements Into a New Language

Adults often face challenges when learning a new language, and a major reason is that they tend to carry over the intonation, rhythm, and stress patterns of their native language. A recent study from Radboud University takes this a step further by showing that adults also transfer their nonverbal cues—especially head movements—into a second language, and these movements don’t help them learn the correct intonation. In fact, they can make things worse.

This research, conducted by linguist Lieke van Maastricht in collaboration with Núria Esteve-Gibert, dives into how prosody (the melody of speech) interacts with body language in second-language learning. It aims to understand whether gestures, specifically head movements, might help adults compensate when they struggle with pronunciation in the new language. Surprisingly, the study found the opposite.

Below is a detailed breakdown of everything the researchers discovered, along with additional information on why intonation matters so much for language learners and how it affects communication across cultures.

The Study Setup and What the Researchers Wanted to Understand

The researchers focused on Catalan-speaking adults learning English. Catalan and Spanish speakers often share similar prosodic patterns, so this group provided a strong sample for examining how native-language prosody transfers to English.

Participants were asked to join the experiment via an online connection. They watched a simple game in which a fictional character named Anna pulled items from a bag. The participants’ task was straightforward: tell Anna what to grab. But the real test was whether they would correctly apply English sentence stress depending on the context.

For example:

• If Anna had a red sock and a yellow sock, participants needed to say grab the YELLOW sock.
• If Anna had a yellow sock and a yellow T-shirt, they needed to say grab the yellow SOCK.

These sentences test what linguists call focus marking—highlighting the word that carries the important information. English typically uses intonation for this, especially by stressing the word that matters most in a sentence. Spanish and Catalan, however, often apply stress and intonation differently.

While participants spoke, the researchers analyzed:

• Where they placed pitch emphasis
• Their intonation patterns
• Their facial expressions
• And importantly, their head movements

The goal was to see whether learners used gestures in a way that would help them achieve correct English pronunciation—or whether those gestures matched patterns from their native language.

The Unexpected Finding: Adults Copy Both Gestures and Intonation From Their Native Language

What the team found was very clear: adults tended to use head movements that matched the intonation pattern of their first language, not English. Instead of helping them convey meaning more accurately, the gestures reflected the same incorrect focus patterns they were producing with their voice.

Instead of gestures compensating for pronunciation mistakes, they amplified them.

The study shows that adults do not instinctively adjust their nonverbal communication to match the prosodic structure of a new language. Instead, they bring over a full package of native-language behavior—both spoken and physical.

This is important because in many languages, incorrect stress or intonation doesn’t just sound foreign. It actually changes meaning.

Why Incorrect Intonation Matters More Than Many Learners Realize

Prosody is not just a decoration in language. It helps listeners understand the core message. In a sentence with more than one possible interpretation, stress tells you which meaning is intended.

A few examples show how dramatic this can be:

• In Spanish:
  HAblo means “I speak”
  haBLÓ means “he spoke”
  Stress alone changes the meaning.
• For Dutch speakers learning Spanish, confusion often arises with sentences like:
  ¿Quiere café con leche o café sin leche?
  Dutch learners tend to emphasize CON or SIN, but Spanish listeners expect the natural stress to fall at the end—on LECHE.

When learners place stress incorrectly, native speakers may struggle to understand what they mean—not because the words are wrong, but because the intonation is signaling the wrong information.

This study reinforces that adults cannot rely on instinctive head movements to fix prosodic mistakes. Instead, they carry over their entire native-language communication style.

Why Children Can Use Gestures More Effectively Than Adults

The research draws on earlier work by Núria Esteve-Gibert, who found that young children can use gestures—like head nods or facial cues—to mark important information before they master prosody. This led to the hypothesis that gestures might help adult learners too.

But adults do not seem to use gestures in the same adaptive way.

Children’s brains are highly flexible, and their communication systems are still forming. So a child who can’t yet use intonation correctly can rely on body language to mark important information. Adults, however, already have a fully developed speech–gesture system tied to their native language.

This means that gestures are not an independent tool for adult learners—they are part of a fixed pattern that mirrors native-language intonation.

What This Means for Language Learners and Teachers

The findings highlight something many teachers already suspect: pronunciation training needs more emphasis, especially when it comes to prosody. Many language classes focus heavily on grammar and vocabulary, while pronunciation, especially intonation, gets limited time.

This can be a major issue because:

• Mispronouncing a sound (like saying I brought instead of I bought) usually doesn’t block comprehension.
• But wrong intonation often does.

Misplaced stress can make a sentence sound like it has a different meaning, confuse listeners, or make learners harder to understand than expected based on their grammar level.

The researchers emphasize that:

• Exposure is essential. Watching movies or series in the target language—even with subtitles—helps learners absorb natural patterns of speech.
• Learners should pay conscious attention to prosody, not just the words.
• Teachers may need to allocate more class time to listening-based training, intonation patterns, and focus marking.

Additional Background: Why Prosody Is So Hard for Adults To Learn

Prosody involves:

• Pitch movement
• Syllable duration
• Stress placement
• Rhythm
• Overall melody

These patterns form early in childhood and become deeply ingrained. When adults speak a new language, they often unconsciously map the new language’s words onto the rhythm and tone of their first language.

This is known as prosodic transfer, and it’s one of the hardest aspects of pronunciation to change. Even advanced learners often retain a strong prosodic accent, even if their grammar is excellent.

In many cases, prosody—not individual sounds—is what makes someone “sound foreign.”

Additional Background: Are Some People Naturally Better at Learning Intonation?

Some linguistic research suggests that an individual’s ability to perceive small differences in pitch and rhythm—sometimes called auditory precision—may influence how well they acquire prosody in a second language.

People who are naturally good at distinguishing musical pitch or tonal fluctuation often learn new intonation patterns more easily.

This is why:

• Music training sometimes correlates with better pronunciation in a new language.
• Some learners pick up accents quickly while others struggle despite similar effort.

Prosody learning is a mix of exposure, training, and individual auditory ability.

Final Thoughts

This study highlights a crucial point: when adults learn a new language, they don’t just transfer vocabulary gaps or grammar structures—they transfer a whole communication system, including the gestures tied to their native language’s sound patterns.

Understanding this helps both learners and teachers take pronunciation more seriously, especially intonation, which can dramatically change meaning. It also underscores the importance of listening practice, immersive exposure, and explicit prosody training.

Better awareness of these factors can significantly improve communication and help learners avoid misunderstandings caused by incorrect stress or intonation.

Research Paper:
Head Gestures Do Not Serve as Precursors of Prosodic Focus Marking in the Second Language as They Do in the First Language
https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70015