This literature review presents an overview of recent research into the relationship between second language acquisition and bodily movement, with themes ranging from gestures and vocabulary, virtual reality, embodied learning, physical exercise, and theater-based classroom interventions. 

Movement in relation to vocabulary-learning is the most widely-discussed topic within the available research, but some studies address movement and grammar, and others address CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approaches. Many, though not all, of the available studies focus on children, and span a broad range of contexts and languages: English, Italian, Greek, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Spanish, and even novel (that is, invented) languages. Overall, the research overwhelmingly affirms the benefits of incorporating movement into language classrooms, as long as these movements are relevant to the content being learned, and do not increase the cognitive load on students. 

Likewise, the literature also affirms that physical movement more broadly, when combined with language learning, boosts language acquisition.

A themebased bibliography is attached. The literature review is made for NCFF by scholar Gabriela Martin.