Why doesn't Google keyboard's gesture/swipe feature work on my Samsung Galaxy S3?

[androidmatcha]

Why doesn't Google keyboard's gesture/swipe feature work on my samsung galaxy s3?

I have a galaxy s3 smartphone. Model number is SGH-I747M. Android 4.1.2. Rooted.

I installed Google keyboard from the Play Store and I currently have the most recent version. But ever since I received it as a gift 3 months ago, I have never been able to use Google keyboard's gesture / swipe feature. Tapping on the keys work. But the sliding or swiping or gesture feature does not work. Can anyone please help me get this to work?