scholarly journals VARIABILITY IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn M. Tagarelli ◽  
Simón Ruiz ◽  
José Luis Moreno Vega ◽  
Patrick Rebuschat
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Exposure Condition ◽  
Linguistic Complexity ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Incidental Group

Second language learning outcomes are highly variable, due to a variety of factors, including individual differences, exposure conditions, and linguistic complexity. However, exactly how these factors interact to influence language learning is unknown. This article examines the relationship between these three variables in language learners.Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language containing three sentence patterns of varying linguistic complexity. They were randomly assigned to two groups—incidental and instructed—designed to promote the acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge, respectively. Learning was assessed with a grammaticality judgment task, and subjective measures of awareness were used to measure whether exposure had resulted in implicit or explicit knowledge. Participants also completed cognitive tests.Awareness measures demonstrated that learners in the incidental group relied more on implicit knowledge, whereas learners in the instructed group relied more on explicit knowledge. Overall, exposure condition was the most significant predictor of performance on the grammaticality judgment task, with learners in the instructed group outperforming those in the incidental group. Performance on a procedural learning task accounted for additional variance. When outcomes were analyzed according to linguistic complexity, exposure condition was the most significant predictor for two syntactic patterns, but it was not a predictor for the most complex sentence group; instead, procedural learning ability was.

Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in Second Language Learning, Testing and Teaching

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayo Reinders ◽  
Rosemary Erlam ◽  
JeneferVE Philp ◽  
Shawn Loewen ◽  
Catherine Elder
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

scholarly journals The role of modality and awareness in language learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Chuqi Zhao ◽  
Judit Kormos ◽  
Patrick Rebuschat ◽  
Shungo Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Moderate Evidence

Abstract There is conflicting empirical evidence regarding the role of awareness in second language learning. Possible explanations for the contradictory results include the modality in the exposure and assessment phases of previous experiments. Our study investigated the acquisition of a novel determiner system under incidental exposure conditions and examined the effect of modality in both exposure and assessment phases. Animacy served as a hidden regularity in the determiners, which were embedded in sentences and presented to Chinese speakers of English either in auditory or in visual mode. Learning was assessed by a two-alternative forced-choice test either auditorily or in writing. Implicit and explicit knowledge were measured using retrospective verbal reports and source judgements. Bayesian analysis provided moderate evidence for above chance level learning. Significant learning effects were observed regardless of whether participants based their accuracy judgements on explicit or implicit knowledge. Bayesian analysis showed moderate evidence for above chance learning effects for aware participants. Generalized linear mixed-effects modeling revealed a small-size significant benefit of the auditory exposure modality over the written modality but indicated no significant effect of the modality of assessment or awareness. Our research underscores the importance of considering the role of modality of exposure in incidental second language learning contexts.

SLEEP-DEPENDENT CONSOLIDATION OF SECOND LANGUAGE GRAMMAR KNOWLEDGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1107-1120
Author(s):  
Kathy MinHye Kim ◽  
Kimberly M. Fenn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
Grammar Knowledge

AbstractSleep plays a role in the consolidation of various aspects of language learning. In this study, we investigated the extent to which sleep-dependent memory consolidation contributes to second language (L2) rule generalization and enhancement of L2 explicit knowledge. One hundred native English speakers were engaged in a meaning-focused training of two German grammar rules. Participants were trained either in the morning or in the evening and tested after a retention interval that was either filled with wakefulness or sleep. During the test, we used a grammaticality judgment test to measure grammatical learning and retrospective verbal reports and source attributions to measure awareness. We found that sleep consolidated learning only for learners who reported awareness of syntactic rules prior to sleep. However, performance based on explicit sources did not differ after a period of sleep and after a period of wakefulness. These findings suggest that sleep may benefit L2 rule generalization only for learners who are aware of the L2 rules before sleep but may not consolidate L2 explicit knowledge.

Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language acquisition

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICK REBUSCHAT ◽  
JOHN N. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

ABSTRACTLanguage development is frequently characterized as a process where learning proceeds implicitly, that is, incidentally and in absence of awareness of what was learned. This article reports the results of two experiments that investigated whether second language acquisition can also result in implicit knowledge. Adult learners were trained on an artificial language under incidental learning conditions and then tested by means of grammaticality judgments and subjective measures of awareness. The results indicate that incidental exposure to second language syntax can result in unconscious knowledge, which suggests that at least some of the learning in this experiment was implicit. At the same time, however, it was also found that conscious (but unverbalizable) knowledge was clearly linked to improved performance in the grammaticality judgment task.

Deficits in Explicit Language Problem Solving Rather Than in Implicit Learning in Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From Learning an Artificial Morphological Rule

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3790-3807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Ferman ◽  
Liat Kishon-Rabin ◽  
Hila Ganot-Budaga ◽  
Avi Karni
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
Morphological Rule ◽  
Semantic Distinction

Purpose The purpose of this study was to delineate differences between children with specific language impairment (SLI), typical age–matched (TAM) children, and typical younger (TY) children in learning and mastering an undisclosed artificial morphological rule (AMR) through exposure and usage. Method Twenty-six participants (eight 10-year-old children with SLI, 8 TAM children, and ten 8-year-old TY children) were trained to master an AMR across multiple training sessions. The AMR required a phonological transformation of verbs depending on a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. All participants practiced the application of the AMR to repeated and new (generalization) items, via judgment and production tasks. Results The children with SLI derived significantly less benefit from practice than their peers in learning most aspects of the AMR, even exhibiting smaller gains compared to the TY group in some aspects. Children with SLI benefited less than TAM and even TY children from training to judge and produce repeated items of the AMR. Nevertheless, despite a significant disadvantage in baseline performance, the rate at which they mastered the task-specific phonological regularities was as robust as that of their peers. On the other hand, like 8-year-olds, only half of the SLI group succeeded in uncovering the nature of the AMR and, consequently, in generalizing it to new items. Conclusions Children with SLI were able to learn language aspects that rely on implicit, procedural learning, but experienced difficulties in learning aspects that relied on the explicit uncovering of the semantic principle of the AMR. The results suggest that some of the difficulties experienced by children with SLI when learning a complex language regularity cannot be accounted for by a broad, language-related, procedural memory disability. Rather, a deficit—perhaps a developmental delay in the ability to recruit and solve language problems and establish explicit knowledge regarding a language task—can better explain their difficulties in language learning.

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