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Kenanidis P, Llompart M, Santos SF, Dąbrowska E. Redundancy can hinder adult L2 grammar learning: evidence from case markers of varying salience levels. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1368080. [PMID: 38840748 PMCID: PMC11150671 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1368080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Grammatical redundancy is a widespread feature across languages. Although redundant cues can be seen to increase the complexity and processing burden of structures, it has been suggested that they can assist language acquisition. Here, we explored if this learning benefit can be observed from the very initial stages of second language (L2) acquisition and whether the effect of redundancy is modulated by the perceptual salience of the redundant linguistic cues. Across two experiments, three groups of adult native speakers of English were incidentally exposed to three different artificial languages; one that had a fixed word order, Verb-Object-Subject, and two in which thematic role assignment was additionally determined by a low-salient (Experiment 1) or a high-salient (Experiment 2) redundant case marker. While all groups managed to learn the novel language, our results pointed towards a hindering role of redundancy, with participants in the non-redundant condition achieving greater learning outcomes compared to those in both redundant conditions. Results also revealed that this impeding effect of redundancy on L2 learners can be attenuated by the salience of the redundant cue (Experiment 2). In conjunction with earlier findings, the present results suggest that the effect of redundancy on L2 acquisition can be differentially manifested depending on the stage of L2 development, learners' first language biases and age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Kenanidis
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Miquel Llompart
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sara Fernández Santos
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Ewa Dąbrowska
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Oliveira CM, Hayiou-Thomas ME, Henderson LM. Reliability of the serial reaction time task: If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024:17470218241232347. [PMID: 38311604 DOI: 10.1177/17470218241232347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
Procedural memory is involved in the acquisition and control of skills and habits that underlie rule and procedural learning, including the acquisition of grammar and phonology. The serial reaction time task (SRTT), commonly used to assess procedural learning, has been shown to have poor stability (test-retest reliability). We investigated factors that may affect the stability of the SRTT in adults. Experiment 1 examined whether the similarity of sequences learned in two sessions would impact stability: test-retest correlations were low regardless of sequence similarity (r < .31). Experiment 2 added a third session to examine whether individual differences in learning would stabilise with further training. There was a small (but nonsignificant) improvement in stability for later sessions (Sessions 1 and 2: r = .42; Sessions 2 and 3: r = .60). Stability of procedural learning on the SRTT remained suboptimal in all conditions, posing a serious obstacle to the use of this task as a sensitive predictor of individual differences and ultimately theoretical advance.
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Prela L, Llompart M, Dąbrowska E. Aptitude and experience as predictors of grammatical proficiency in adult Greek-English bilinguals. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1062821. [PMID: 36605265 PMCID: PMC9808080 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1062821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been shown that individuals exhibit great variability in second language (L2) ultimate attainment. Some speakers reach native-like proficiency, others only achieve a rudimentary command and many lie in the middle. Individual differences research has partly attributed different degrees of L2 attainment to (language) aptitude. Initially considered irrelevant for first language (L1) acquisition, aptitude was viewed as a compensatory ability for adults' disadvantage in L2 learning. In this line of thought, adults and children are viewed as fundamentally different and rely on different language learning mechanisms. However, aptitude might not be so irrelevant for the L1. Together with input the two factors are found to account for individual differences not only in L2 but also L1 development. Recent research has specifically shown that native grammatical attainment may be modulated by aptitude and input. In this respect, the aim of the current study is to examine the effects of these two predictors (namely input and aptitude) on both L1 and L2 grammatical attainment in the same speakers. Our participants (N = 75) were all native speakers of Greek who learned English as a foreign language in their home country and immigrated to the United Kingdom in adulthood (mean age of arrival = 27.3, SD = 6.4). Grammatical proficiency was measured through a grammaticality judgement task administered in both the L1 and the L2. Aptitude was measured through the Sentence Pairs task (based on the Words In Sentences test from the MLAT battery). Amount of input was measured using the traditional measure, length of residence (LoR) and a new cumulative measure that spanned across the participants' life. The two measures were pitted against each other in the analysis. We found robust effects of aptitude in both the L1 and the L2, with the effect being even stronger for the L1. As expected, our new cumulative measure of exposure proved to be a better predictor of individual differences in grammatical proficiency. Last but not least, the effects of input were larger for the L2 than the L1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonarda Prela
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Miquel Llompart
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ewa Dąbrowska
- Chair of Language and Cognition, Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Divjak D, Milin P, Medimorec S, Borowski M. Behavioral Signatures of Memory Resources for Language: Looking beyond the Lexicon/Grammar Divide. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13206. [PMID: 36353955 PMCID: PMC9787600 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Although there is a broad consensus that both the procedural and declarative memory systems play a crucial role in language learning, use, and knowledge, the mapping between linguistic types and memory structures remains underspecified: by default, a dual-route mapping of language systems to memory systems is assumed, with declarative memory handling idiosyncratic lexical knowledge and procedural memory handling rule-governed knowledge of grammar. We experimentally contrast the processing of morphology (case and aspect), syntax (subordination), and lexical semantics (collocations) in a healthy L1 population of Polish, a language rich in form distinctions. We study the processing of these four types under two conditions: a single task condition in which the grammaticality of stimuli was judged and a concurrent task condition in which grammaticality judgments were combined with a digit span task. Dividing attention impedes access to declarative memory while leaving procedural memory unaffected and hence constitutes a test that dissociates which types of linguistic information each long-term memory construct subserves. Our findings confirm the existence of a distinction between lexicon and grammar as a generative, dual-route model would predict, but the distinction is graded, as usage-based models assume: the hypothesized grammar-lexicon opposition appears as a continuum on which grammatical phenomena can be placed as being more or less "ruly" or "idiosyncratic." However, usage-based models, too, need adjusting as not all types of linguistic knowledge are proceduralized to the same extent. This move away from a simple dichotomy fundamentally changes how we think about memory for language, and hence how we design and interpret behavioral and neuroimaging studies that probe into the nature of language cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dagmar Divjak
- Department of Modern LanguagesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom,Department of English Language & LinguisticsUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Petar Milin
- Department of Modern LanguagesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Srdan Medimorec
- Department of Modern LanguagesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom,Department of Psychology, Centre for Applied Psychological ScienceTeesside UniversityMiddlesbroughUnited Kingdom
| | - Maciej Borowski
- Department of Modern LanguagesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
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Riches N, Letts C, Awad H, Ramsey R, Dąbrowska E. Collocational knowledge in children: a comparison of English-speaking monolingual children, and children acquiring English as an Additional Language. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2022; 49:1008-1023. [PMID: 34579800 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000921000490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Collocations, e.g., apples and pears, hard worker, constitute an important avenue of linguistic enquiry straddling both grammar and the lexicon. They are sensitive to language experience, with adult L2 learners and children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) exhibiting poor collocational knowledge. The current study piloted a novel collocational assessment with children (mean age 6;3, 40 monolingual, 32 EAL). It investigated (1) the feasibility of a collocational assessment at this age, (2) whether collocational knowledge is associated with other language domains (receptive grammar and vocabulary), and (3) whether collocational knowledge is more affected than other domains. The assessment demonstrated good psychometric properties and was highly correlated with performance in other domains, indicating shared psycholinguistic mechanisms. Unlike adult counterparts, the EAL children performed equally poorly across domains. Given the role played by collocations in vocabulary development and reading, a focus on this domain may be beneficial for EAL children.
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Arthur DT, Ullman MT, Earle FS. Declarative Memory Predicts Phonological Processing Abilities in Adulthood. Front Psychol 2021; 12:658402. [PMID: 34113292 PMCID: PMC8185136 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.658402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual differences in phonological processing abilities have often been attributed to perceptual factors, rather than to factors relating to learning and memory. Here, we consider the contribution of individual differences in declarative and procedural memory to phonological processing performance in adulthood. We examined the phonological processing, declarative memory, and procedural memory abilities of 79 native English-speaking young adults with typical language and reading abilities. Declarative memory was assessed with a recognition memory task of real and made-up objects. Procedural memory was assessed with a serial reaction time task. For both tasks, learning was assessed shortly after encoding, and again after a 12-h, overnight delay. We regressed phonological processing ability with memory performance on both days. We found that declarative memory, but not procedural memory, was highly predictive of phonological processing abilities. Specifically, declarative memory scores obtained shortly after learning were associated with non-word repetition performance, whereas declarative memory scores obtained after the overnight delay were associated with phonological awareness. Procedural memory was not associated with either of the phonological processing measures. We discuss these findings in the context of adult participants with mature phonological systems. We examine possible implications for the relationship between declarative memory and phonological processing in adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana T Arthur
- Department of Communication Disorders, State University of New York-New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, United States
| | - Michael T Ullman
- Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - F Sayako Earle
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States
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