Status Quo and Comparative Study of Fujianese College Students’ Language Abilities, Language Attitudes and Language Use

The study undertakes a diachronic comparative analysis of college students’ Mandarin, dialect, English use status, language aptitude, and language attitudes between 2015 and 2020 using data from a questionnaire of Fujian Province college students. The findings show that: (1) Mandarin’s function and status are increasing, resulting in a situation in which Mandarin is the dominant language and multiple language codes, such as dialects and English, coexist; (2) Mandarin use is increasing, while dialect use is decreasing; (3) Mandarin and English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are improving, while dialect listening and speaking skills are deteriorating; (4) Although Fujianese college students have a higher overall opinion of Mandarin, dialects, and English, their views toward Mandarin, dialects, and other languages are deteriorating. Based on this, the paper proposes curriculum ideology and politics in foreign language classes, as well as a variety of strategies to preserve Fujian’s strong dialects and scientifically protect weak dialects and endangered minority languages.

First language effects on the identification and evaluation of second language speech

In Belgium, Dutch as spoken by Francophone learners is relatively frequent in political, commercial or educational contexts. While the characteristics of this second language (L2) variety have been studied extensively, there is to date no systematic report of how it is evaluated by either native speakers of Dutch or non-natives. Previous studies conducted in other language contexts have found that non-natives tend to be very critical towards L2 accents similar to their own. The main goal of the present study is to investigate the extent to which the listener’s first language (L1) impacts ratings of the fluency, accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 Dutch as spoken by Francophone learners and how it impacts the identification of the speakers’ L1. Specifically, we compared ratings by three groups of listeners: Francophone learners of Dutch, native speakers of Belgian Dutch and native speakers of Netherlandic Dutch. Moreover, the extent to which three additional cognitive and environmental factors influence L2 ratings is examined: listeners’ familiarity with the L2 variety, their language aptitude and language proficiency. The results show that the majority of native and non-native listeners recognized the speakers’ L1 (French). Non-native listeners perceived L2 speech as less fluent, less comprehensible and more accented than natives did, which corroborates the previously reported critical attitudes towards a shared L2 accent. Moreover, subtle differences in accent and fluency ratings were found between the Netherlandic Dutch and the Belgian Dutch listeners. No clear effects of other cognitive and environmental factors appeared in the ratings.

EPILOGUE

In this commentary, we summarize the findings of the seven included studies that examined implicit language aptitude from various perspectives and highlight issues to be resolved in the validation of this new construct in second language research. We start by providing an overview of the contributions of the studies. We then identify the lack of convergent validity of the measures of implicit aptitude reported in the included studies and problematize the equally varied nature of the measurement of implicit knowledge—the outcome variable of aptitude research—and related concepts. In particular, by drawing on empirical evidence and theoretical claims, we attempt to clarify the relationships between implicit and explicit knowledge, implicit and explicit learning, and implicit and explicit instruction. Next, we draw attention to the interactions reported by the included studies between aptitude and outcome measures and between aptitude and instruction type, emphasizing the value and importance of interactional research. We conclude by making recommendations for future research.

IMPLICIT LANGUAGE APTITUDE: CONCEPTUALIZING THE CONSTRUCT, VALIDATING THE MEASURES, AND EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE

This article discusses the conceptualization, measurement, and validity of a recently emerged construct in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)—implicit language aptitude (alternatively “implicit aptitude”). Implicit aptitude is a set of cognitive abilities that enable learners to make unconscious computations of the distributional and transitional probabilities of linguistic input. Implicit aptitude is key to an accurate understanding of the cognitive foundation of language learning and contributes significantly to the advancement of SLA theory and pedagogy. The article starts by clarifying the concept and components of implicit aptitude, elaborating its role in SLA theories, identifying its attributes, and discussing its measurement. It then synthesizes the empirical evidence on its divergent, convergent, and predictive validity, which refers to whether it is distinct or separable from explicit aptitude, whether measures of implicit aptitude are correlated, and whether it is predictive of learning outcomes, respectively. Next, the article provides an overview of the seven empirical studies included in this special issue that examined implicit aptitude from various perspectives. The article concludes by identifying future directions.

WHY IS THE COMPONENTIAL CONSTRUCT OF IMPLICIT LANGUAGE APTITUDE SO DIFFICULT TO CAPTURE?

Although this special issue reveals some promising achievements, most of the contributions show that tasks of implicit learning are not or are only weakly correlated with each other, and they have inconsistent predictive power on L2 acquisition. This commentary examines four possible explanations for this surprising pattern: The (suboptimal) selection of tasks, the low reliability of measures, the deep influence of the starting level even for nominally “new” implicit tasks, and the fact that the mastery of L2 may involve other implicit processes than implicit learning measured through laboratory tasks.

Indonesian EFL students’ views on their explicit and implicit language aptitude profiles, TOEFL scores and language proficiency.

This study is designed to find out students’ views on their explicit and implicit language aptitude profiles, TOEFL scores and language proficiency. Based on purposive sampling scheme, the data were collected from sixty-five students in the end of their eighth semester at the English department in faculty of teacher training in UIN Raden Fatah Palembang. The students were asked to respond to the five points Likert scale questionnaire which consists of four parts: Part A elicits the participants’ demographic information, Part B on language experience, Part C on language aptitude, and Part D especially on TOEFL and language proficiency. The findings revealed that language learning success is attributed to a number of individual factors. The individual factors related to foreign language learning can be divided into affective factors (e.g., motivation, attitude, and personality) and cognitive factors (e.g., intelligence, aptitude). The cognitive factors interact with affective factors for learning a particular language which may explain why a person is better able to learn a language over another language. Thus, a full model of language learning that considers the impact of language aptitude on learning should also investigate the combined mediating role of individual differences such as motivation, anxiety, and learner’s beliefs.

Examining individual differences in language learning: a neurocognitive model of language aptitude

A common practice in the cognitive neurosciences is to investigate population-typical phenomena, treating individuals as equal except for a few outliers that are usually discarded from analyses or disappear on group-level patterns. Only few studies to date have captured the heterogeneity of language processing across individuals as so-called individual differences, fewer have explicitly researched language aptitude, which designates an individual’s ability for acquiring foreign languages. Existing studies show that, relative to average learners, very gifted language learners display different task-related patterns of functional activation and connectivity during linguistic tasks, and structural differences in white and grey matter morphology, and white matter connectivity. Despite growing interest in language aptitude, there is no recent comprehensive review, nor a theoretical model to date that includes the neural level. To fill this gap, we here review neuroscientific research on individual differences in language learning and language aptitude and present a first, preliminary neurocognitive model of language aptitude. We suggest that language aptitude could arise from an advantageous neuro-cognitive profile, which leads to high intrinsic motivation and proactive engagement in language learning activities. On the neural level, interindividual differences in the morphology of the bilateral auditory cortex constrain individual neural plasticity, as evident in the speed and efficiency of language learning. We suggest that language learning success is further dependent upon highly efficient auditorymotor connections (speech-motor networks) and the structural characteristics of dorsal and ventral fibre tracts during language learning.

THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND THE EFFECTS OF THE TIMING OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK

This study examines the associations between implicit and explicit language aptitude and the effects of the timing of corrective feedback (CF). A total of 112 seventh-grade EFL learners were assigned to three groups: Immediate CF, Delayed CF, and Task Only. The three groups underwent three treatment sessions during which they performed six focused communicative tasks eliciting the use of the English past tense. The Immediate and Delayed CF groups received CF treatments in the first and final sessions, respectively, and the Task Only group performed the communicative tasks without receiving any feedback. Treatment effects were measured through an untimed grammaticality judgment test and an elicited imitation test. Implicit language aptitude was operationalized as procedural memory and explicit language aptitude as working memory and declarative memory. Multiple regression analysis showed that procedural memory was significantly predictive of the effectiveness of Immediate CF, declarative memory was significantly associated with Delayed CF and Task Only, and working memory was a significant predictor of Immediate CF and Delayed CF. The results were interpreted by consulting the methodological features of the treatments and the mechanisms of the three cognitive abilities.