Movement and Language Development as an Early Childhood Twin Strategy: A Systematic Review

In this review, a critical reading of the literary and scientifi c production focused on the themes of the body, movement and language learning was carried out, with particular consideration given to alternative teaching methods that use movement to favour the cognitive process. After searching the databases of Pub Med, PsycInfo, Sport Discus, Psyc Articles and Eric electronic, the choice was narrowed down to 8 international scientifi c studies with publication dates ranging between the years 1999 and 2017 concerning pre-school subjects between 2 and 5 years of age, excluding those regarding other target users and/or particular characteristics such as pathologies, obesity, and nutrition. All of these studies analysed the benefi ts of motor activity on language, communication, learning and academic performance. Of the 7 fi ltered studies, 4 examine the specifi c relationship between motor activity and language, while the other 3 between language and general academic performance. Through the analysis of the fi ltered reports and some of the bibliographical references used, we conclude that motor activity positively infl uences language, attention and concentration of the pupils in this age range, with eff ects on academic performance. Furthermore, it also improves motor skills as a result of decreased sedentary behaviour.


Introduction
It is now a well-established fact that motor activity is of fundamental importance because it plays a primary role in the fi elds of socialization, emotionality and interpersonal relationships as well as in the pure physicality and well-being, contributing to the psychic development and promoting freedom from inhibitions towards oneself and others. Th e search for possible common elements or relationships between body, movement and language is a fundamental condition for researching a possible transversal teaching-educational methodology that improves academic performance. Motor activity is a fundamental factor during the child's growth in the formation of his/her personality (Raiola, 2013) because body and movement give a signifi cant response to the communicative need with the use of languages that are not only verbal (D'Isanto, 2016, D'Isanto & Di Tore, 2016, Casolo, 2011. In the same manner that playing coincides with learning, dramatization helps the child to develop his/her potential and to satisfy his/her needs for socialization, creativity, autonomy (Rostagno & Pellegrini, 1978), involving various types of language to be used in a personal way, promptinga connection between linguistic expressivity and motor expressiveness and supporting the conquest of the ego through the process of identifi cation. Th e dramatic-theatrical-ritual expressiveness is used at all ages even in the East (Raimondo, Kay, Ellender, & Akerman, 2012); for centuries, this has proven to be eff ective, even in cultures that are diff erent from ours, in improving parameters such as inhibitory control, self-perception and cohesion (Valentini & Beretta, 2016).
Verbal language reaches a certain competence in early childhood and develops alongside the experiences of MOVEMENT, LANGUAGE AND STRATEGY | M. VALENTINI ET AL.
game-movement and the motor evolution underlying the establishment of basic motor patterns (Raiola, Tafuri, & Altavilla, 2015), which follow a genetically pre-established neuromotor activation (Meraviglia, 2012), heavily conditioning the subsequent complex learning processes and becoming the most important behaviour mediator and regulator through internal language structuring: from perception to symbolization and from the latter to verbalization. Movement and motor activity support and complete the process of symbolizing thought-a trait which had been considered for a long period of time as exclusive to the verbal communication system. Academic success, performance in homework and tests depend both on a) factors closely related to school grades, such as: attention, concentration, memory, recognition and understanding of information, and b) from unconscious factors that play a statistically important role in learning, such as spatial-temporal perception, self-esteem, sedentariness and media consumption (Trudeau & Shephard, 2008); these are all factors that can be aff ected by physical activity. Th e inhibitory control is the centre of the highest cognitive functions and is based on mental processes that are closely related to attention, behaviour, emotions and mainly involves the neural networks in the prefrontal and parietal cortices. It has been proven that the inhibitory control ability is a fundamental predictor of both academic performance and cognitive development in early childhood (Diamond, 2013). Chaddock et al. (2012) carried out constant monitoring subsequent to the Eriksen Flanker test, one of the most used tests on the evaluation of this ability, showing that fi tter children have superior performance results in accuracy and reaction times, better attention span control during the test and greater concentration direct-ed towards the requested stimulus, therefore better cognitive control. Th is is also refl ected in the modern theoretical foundations of Appraisal and cognitive theories, in which a close correlation between emotional experience and mental elaboration can be found, where the second is dependent on the former. Th is is confi rmed by the work done by Scherer (1993) and Brosch, Scherer, Grandjean and Sander (2013).
Th e purpose of this review of the literature is to clarify what eff ects brings physical activity to diff erent cognitive processes (language, verbal and non-verbal communication, learning) and academic performance.

Methods
Th e research was performed using databases from Pub Med, Psyc Info, Sport Discus, Psyc Articles, Eric, with the main fi lter being the year of publication 1999-2017. Th e keywords used in the search for the articles were: age 2-5 years; primary school; motor activity; language; learning; academic performance. Exclusion fi lters on the yielded results were: obesity; pathology; nutrition.

Results
Th e selection highlighted 7 articles concerning studies in the journals of African Journal for Physical, Developmental Psychology, Health Education, IDEA Fitness Journal, Journal of Physical Activity & Health, Journal of Physical Education & Sport, O & P Business News, Palaestra, Percentual and Motor Skill, and the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. Specifi cally, 4 studies examined the relationship between motor activity and language and 3 studies between language and general academic performance (Table 1). Defi ne gross motor activity eff ect of homework on children with a primary communicative diffi culty of phonological disorder -Improve the phonological skills of young children Th is study was approved in advance by the University of Urbino (Italy). Each participant has voluntarily provided written informed consent before participating.

Discussion
Every little gesture or movement made, whether or not it may refl ect a conscious goal of the subject who performs it, must be considered a motor activity. Nelson, Campbell and Michel (2014) tried to assess whether the choice consistency in the use of one of the two hands at 6-14 months of age is linked to better language skills at a later age (18-24 months) using the 3rd Edition Bayley Scale. Th e results show that subjects with strong right-handedness in the fi rst period had better linguistic skills in the second, but that even those who did not have a strong lateralization in the fi rst months had subsequent standard skills. Th e entire adult world population has a high percentage of right-handed lateralisation, probably also due to specifi c cultural, social and ethnic infl uences; in relation to the infancy period, Esseily, Jacquet and Fagard (2011) and Franco and Butterworth (2016) have verifi ed a preference on the right hand for pointing but many other studies have had mixed results based on the choice of the hand or the fi nger according to the modality of use (Vauclair & Imbault, 2009;Kotwica, Ferre, & Michel., 2008;Michel, Sheu, & Brumley, 2002). Others fi nd important relationships only during the fundamental stages of linguistic improvements (Jacquet, Esseily, Rider, & Fagard, 2012;Vauclair & Imbault, 2009;Bates, O'Connell, Vaid, Sledge, & Oakes, 1986), even if they do not explain their motivations. Wilbourn, Gottfried and Kee (2011) found a specifi city of the female gender between the constant use of the right hand during childhood and verbal cognitive ability estimated at 10 and 17 years of age, correlating the phonological improvement also to the amount of exposure to listening to readings at 15 months of age in the mother-daughter relationship. Similarly, Fenson et al. (1994) had a gender advantage over linguistic development but with much lower percentage diff erences compared to males (1%-2%) and for an exclusive timeperiod between 8 and 30 months of age on a sample of 1803 subjects. Vauclair and Cochet (2012) found in children aged 10-40 months, the use of right-hand fi nger for pointing also in left -handed and ambidextrous subjects, confi rming the hy-pothesis of Iverson and Goldin-Meadow, (2005) and Volterra, Caselli, Capirci and Pizzuto (2005) on the independence and specialization in language and gestural communication of the Broca Area with respect to the one dedicated to manual motor control, suggesting that gestures support language learning. Iverson (2010) indicates that the change of gestures predicts advances in the linguistic development of children, also in relation to the gesture-word modalities used in adulthood; also, that prior to the intentional use of hand and mouth for communication, sensorimotor links exist that provide the basis for their future cognitive interdependence, confi rming the presence of multimodal coordination. Th is cerebral fl exibility, already present in the neonatal period thanks to the establishment of relations between white and grey matter, is confi rmed by Deniz Can, Richards and Kuhl (2013). In recent years, the focus on Cognition Embodied Th eory and on its possible implications in the stimulation of language learning has increased exponentially (Mahon, 2015), even if part of the scholars do not share the results as they believe that now the structuring of the language is an emerging autonomous trait of the human species. Toumpaniari, Loyens, Mavilidi and Paas (2015) investigated whether combining gross-motor activities and gestures could improve foreign language acquisition in preschool children, verifying positive eff ects especially with embodied-type activities and also confi rming those obtained from previous studies (e.g. Fedewa & Ahn, 2011;Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2008;Strong et al., 2005;Sibley & Etnier, 2003) that used generic motor activities prior to the execution of a task, even in adolescence and adulthood. Lindgren and Johnson-Glenberg (2013) have recorded positive eff ects of using embodiment techniques in the fi elds of psychology, mathematics and linguistics, with advantages in both fi nding and retaining acquired concepts. Croom (2014) believes that embodiment enhances the 5 individual characteristics of the PERMA framework, leading to psychological well-being; Pouw, de Nooijer, van Gog, ZwaanandPaas (2014) argue that learning is, for all practical purposes, a cognitive process and is inextricably linked to the various experiences of the subject. Th is is also supported by Gogate and Hollich (2010), Iverson (2010), and Hockema and Smith (2009); therefore, it is justifi able to use not only embodiment-type techniques, but also theatrical enact- ment gestures, as positively tested by Toumpaniari et al. (2015) and already suggested by Hostetter (2011) when analyzing the works of Cohen and Otterbein (1992) and Engelkamp and Cohen (1991). For Assaiante, Barlaam, Cignetti and Vaugoyeau (2014) the information received from the environment modifi es and generates new interaction possibilities, defi ning and shaping the various reference frameworks for the subject, including motor and body frameworks; for Pulvermüller and Fadiga (2010) the latter is important both for the execution and understanding of the actions and the language used to describe them. Oudgenoeg-Paz, Leseman and Volman (2015) have analysed this possibility and hypothesize that exploration acts as a mediator between the achievement of the motor stages and the development of spatial cognition and language, eliminating the possibility that such developments are simply to be attributed to the general maturation process, given that the developmental relationships between motor skills, exploration, cognition and spatial language are highly specifi c. Perry, Samuelson, Malloy and Schiff er (2014) have demonstrated that specifi c categories are better acquired in specifi c contexts, and therefore stimulating environments full of opportunities can be used in a targeted way by competent subjects to off er focused and specifi c learning possibilities. Crosssectional studies have demonstrated correlations between motor and language skills in both children with normal development (Alcock & Krawczyk, 2010) and those with developmental disabilities (Müürsepp, Ereline, Gapeyeva, & Pääsuke 2009;Hill, 2001). Karasik, Tamis-LeMonda and Adolph (2011) and Campos, Anderson and Telzrow (2009) also agree on linking walking, exploration and cognitive-linguistic development to the development of spatial language. Diaz-Williams, French, French and Nichols (2015) confi rm that managing spatial practices in motion for phonological learning favours a solid memorization of terms thanks to the iconic spatial aid because it obliges a greater use of kinaesthetic stimuli, as well as being more engaging for children, even in subjects with a vocal production defi cit. Furthermore, Diaz-Williams et al. (2015) found that the motor activities can enhance the learning of specifi c voice and language concepts, improving the focus on the task and on the production of sound to be emitted also through visual representations of basic concepts. By adding play-motor and drama activities in school exercise programs, it is possible, even at a more advanced age, to improve self-perception (Spanaki, Skordilis, & Venetsanou, 2010;Landazabal, 1999), body awareness (Sherborne, 1990), self-confi dence and self-esteem in children (Zimmer, 2006), create programs aimed at developing specifi c motor skills (Lobo & Winsler, 2006) in relation to fi tness aspects (Schmidt, Valkanover, Roebers, & Conzelmann, 2013;Mayorga-Vega, Viciana, Cocca, & De Rueda Villén, 2012), and therefore to counter obesity, with further results in social skills. Th e linguistic abilities expressed and the socio-emotional relationship with peers or in the cliques is already important at 4-6 years of age (Brighi, Mazzanti, Guarini, & Sansavini, 2015;Tallandini & Morsan, 2006), as children with poor linguistic skills are more at risk of being ostracized or isolated from their school friends (Menting, van Lier, & Koot, 2011). Th e emotional content of the aggregating environment infl uences both the adjustment phase and congregation (Snyders-Sowers & Kariuki, 1997), and once the group is formed, their members mutually infl uence each other (Dishion & Dodge, 2005), with further repercussions on academic performance. Moreover, through vari-ous Spearman correlations, Brighi et al. (2015) found that the linguistic competence scores of children are distinctly and positively connected to social competence and orientation, positive emotionality, attention and linguistic skills, along withtheir social reference group. Th e authors suggest thatthese relationship typesmay be bi-directional: language skills and competencies improve relationships and vice versa, in a virtuous cycle favoured by a stimulating environment. Physical activity, language and academic performance are certainly connected. It is feasible to consider the realization of learning paths based on dramatization using language, communication and personal expressive channel as mediators in the improvement of academic performance, infl uencing mnemonic and focusing abilities, personality, self-esteem and inhibitory control management. It is very important to promote interventions right from kindergarten in order to bring substantial benefi ts not only tothe development of motor skills, but also for future cognitive performance, given that good performance of the former has a positive response in the latter: through motor activity, better results are obtained in the intervention groups than in the control groupswith respect to all the parameters examined. Movement improves language, behaviour, self-effi cacy and cognitive abilities. Th ere are 3 theoretical approaches within developmental psychology: behaviourist, genetic, and psychoanalytic; the common factor of these theories is that language takes on a symbolic instrumental value, becoming the main thought medium and always affi liating itself to acorporeal paralanguage. Th is stems from sensorimotor activity, which will, in turn, be linked to psychomotor development.When strategic synergies are employed on spoken language, perceptive-motor skills, behavioural dynamics of relationships, improvements can also be achieved withdiffi cult subjects. Corporeal and sensorial dynamicstake on an important role and must be followedin parallel topsychological and relational development, given that they are regulated by psycho-cognitive levels. Th e processes of the self, of the Ego, are in continuous formation (Zimmer, 2006) and take place in a body that fi nds its coherence in rhythm, in movement or in its dynamics within a spatial context, allowing it to connote and denote itself in a relationship that is also the prescription of the limits and relationships it imposes, similarly to what already takes place in new-borns at a cerebral level (Deniz Can et al., 2013).Based on the data analysis, the benefi ts brought about by the development of motor skills and abilities have clearly emerged in the children of the age group taken into consideration, since the body is not only an extraordinary means to learn about reality, but also a formidable tool to discover, through active experience, one's potential and self. Th rough the body we learn to relate to our surrounding environment, learning and using interrelated motor gestures with cognitive, aff ective and linguistic skills to promote our global development-right from early childhood. We can now formulatesome guidelines on how to use motor activity, in order to optimize and maximize language learning and consequently improve academic performance, although we suggest indepth future studies to fi nd specifi c application methodologies that can be applied to most school settings. Studies have emphasized the scope of the body experience by highlighting its relationship with cognitive processes, taking also into account the new contributions in neuroscience that demonstrate the close relationship between subject, movement, language and learning.