The purpose of the current paper is to outline how gestures can contribute to the study of some key issues in language development. Specifically, it (1) briefly summarises what is already known about gesture in the domains of first and second language development, and development or changes over the life span more generally; (2) highlights theoretical and empirical issues in these domains where gestures can contribute in important ways to further our understanding; and (3) summarises some common themes in all strands of research on language development that could be the target of concentrated research efforts.