L2 word recognition in French–English late bilinguals: does modality matter?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Camille Cornut ◽  
Gwendoline Mahé ◽  
Séverine Casalis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Modality Effect ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Written Materials ◽  
L2 Word Recognition ◽  
Late Bilinguals

Abstract Research in second language (L2) learning often considers one modality only during task completion. It is unclear if L2 performance is as accurate whatever the modality. L2 learning at school is characterized by a predominance of written materials. One might expect written L2 word recognition to be more accurate than spoken one. This modality effect could also depend on L2 proficiency and the presence of cognate items, closer orthographically than phonologically for most language pairs. Two experiments were conducted with 50 intermediate proficiency French–English bilinguals. Experiment 1 highlighted this modality effect on accuracy and a session effect reflecting a benefit from oral to written modality on latency. In Experiment 2, which included both cognate and non-cognate words, modality effect was even stronger for cognate words and cognate effect depended on modality. In both experiments, these effects depend on L2 proficiency. These findings are discussed according to bilingual word recognition models.

scholarly journals Pupillary responses to affective words in bilinguals' first versus second language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelmiina Toivo ◽  
Christoph Scheepers
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Emotional Involvement ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Emotional Resonance ◽  
Post Trial ◽  
Specific Control ◽  
Late Bilinguals

Late bilinguals often report less emotional involvement in their second language, a phenomenon called reduced emotional resonance in L2. The present study measured pupil dilation in response to high- versus low-arousing words (e.g., riot vs. swamp) in German-English and Finnish-English late bilinguals, both in their first and in their second language. A third sample of English monolingual speakers (tested only in English) served as a control group. To improve on previous research, we controlled for lexical confounds such as length, frequency, emotional valence, and abstractness – both within and across languages. Results showed no appreciable differences in post-trial word recognition judgements (98% recognition on average), but reliably stronger pupillary effects of the arousal manipulation when stimuli were presented in participants' first rather than second language. This supports the notion of reduced emotional resonance in L2. Our findings are unlikely to be due to differences in stimulus-specific control variables or to potential word-recognition difficulties in participants' second language. Linguistic relatedness between first and second language (German-English vs. Finnish-English) was also not found to have a modulating influence.

A tale of two frequency effects: Toward a verification model of L2 word recognition

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-236
Author(s):  
Nan Jiang ◽  
Man Li ◽  
Taomei Guo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Verification Model ◽  
L2 Word Recognition

AbstractThis study examined the activation of first language (L1) translations in second language (L2) word recognition in a lexical decision task. Test materials included English words that differed in the frequency of their Chinese translations or in their surface lexical frequency while other lexical properties were controlled. Chinese speakers of English as a second language of different proficiencies and native speakers of English were tested. Native speakers produced a reliable lexical frequency effect but no translation frequency effect. English as a second language speakers of lower English proficiency showed both a translation frequency effect and a lexical frequency effect, but those of higher English proficiency showed a lexical frequency effect only. The results were discussed in a verification model of L2 word recognition. According to the model, L2 word recognition entails a checking procedure in which activated L2 words are checked against their L1 translations. The two frequency effects are seen to have two different loci. The lexical frequency effect is associated with the initial activation of L2 lemmas, and the translation frequency effect arises in the verification process. Existing evidence for verification in L2 word recognition and new issues this model raises are discussed.

Event-related brain potentials and second language learning: syntactic processing in late L2 learners at different L2 proficiency levels

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet G. van Hell ◽  
Natasha Tokowicz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Different Levels

There are several major questions in the literature on late second language (L2) learning and processing. Some of these questions include: Can late L2 learners process an L2 in a native-like way? What is the nature of the differences in L2 processing among L2 learners at different levels of L2 proficiency? In this article, we review studies that addressed these questions using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in late learners and that focused on syntactic processing. ERPs provide an on-line, millisecond-by-millisecond record of the brain’s electrical activity during cognitive processing. ERP measures can thus provide valuable information on the timing and degree of neural activation as language processing (here: syntactic processing in L2) unfolds over time. After discussing the use of ERPs for the study of L2 learning and processing, we review electrophysiological studies on syntactic and morphosyntactic processing in late L2 learners with different levels of L2 proficiency. The currently available evidence indicates that patterns of neural activity in the brain during syntactic and morphosyntactic processing can be modulated by various, possibly interrelated, factors including the similarity or dissimilarity of syntactic structures in L2 and L1, the exact nature of the syntactic structure L2 learners seek to comprehend and the concomitant expectancies they can generate with regard to violations in this structure, and the L2 learners’ level of L2 proficiency. Together these studies show that ERPs can successfully elucidate subtle differences in syntactic processing between L2 learners and native speakers, and among L2 learners at different levels of L2 proficiency, which are difficult to detect or that might have remained undetected with behavioural measures.

scholarly journals Variation in late L1 acquisition?

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 917-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN EMMOREY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Language Aptitude ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
L1 Acquisition

Mayberry and Kluender review evidence that second language (L2) proficiency declines with age of acquisition (regardless of modality), but they also review evidence for variable L2 outcomes for individuals, with factors such as motivation, language aptitude, education, and L2 experience playing a role. They argue that if L2 outcomes were fully under the control of a critical period for language (CPL), these learning variables should not predict L2 outcome, and the outcome of L2 learning would not be consistently observed to be so variable. The questions raised in this commentary are whether there is variation in late L1 proficiency and whether such variation could provide insights into the CPL.

scholarly journals Do late bilinguals access pure morphology during word recognition? A masked-priming study on Hebrew as a second language

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 945-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
YAEL FARHY ◽  
JOÃO VERÍSSIMO ◽  
HARALD CLAHSEN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Morphological Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Root Extraction ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Shallow Structure ◽  
Language Type ◽  
Late Bilinguals

This study extends research on morphological processing in late bilinguals to a rarely examined language type, Semitic, by reporting results from a masked-priming experiment with 58 non-native, advanced, second-language (L2) speakers of Hebrew in comparison with native (L1) speakers. We took advantage of a case of ‘pure morphology’ in Hebrew, the so-called binyanim, which represent (essentially arbitrary) morphological classes for verbs. Our results revealed a non-native priming pattern for the L2 group, with root-priming effects restricted to non-finite prime words irrespective of binyanim type. We conclude that root extraction in L2 Hebrew word recognition is less sensitive to both morphological and morphosyntactic cues than in the L1, in line with the Shallow-Structure Hypothesis of L2 processing.

Computer-mediated input, output and feedback in the development of L2 word recognition from speech

ReCALL ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Matthews ◽  
Junyu Cheng ◽  
John Mitchell O’Toole
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Treatment Level ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Gain Scores ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Impact ◽  
L2 Word Recognition

AbstractThis paper reports on the impact of computer-mediated input, output and feedback on the development of second language (L2) word recognition from speech (WRS). A quasi-experimental pre-test/treatment/post-test research design was used involving three intact tertiary level English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Classes were either assigned to a control group (n=31) or to one of two alternative treatment levels which used a web-based computer application enabling self-determined opportunities to repeatedly listen to and reconstruct spoken target text into its written form. Treatment group one (n=30) received text feedback after each of their efforts at target text reconstruction, whereas treatment group two (n=35) did not. Results indicated that word recognition gain scores of those who used the application, regardless of treatment level, were significantly higher than those of the control group. The relationship between the quantity of self-determined exposure to input and word recognition improvements was moderate but not linear, with those choosing moderate levels of speech input deriving the greatest measurable improvement. Neither increased levels of modified output nor the provision of text feedback were associated with significant improvements in word recognition gain scores. Implications for computer-mediated approaches for the development of L2 WRS are described and areas for future empirical research are suggested.

scholarly journals Native-like Event-related Potentials in Processing the Second Language Syntax: Late Bilinguals

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-59
Author(s):  
Laleh Esfandiari ◽  
◽  
Reza Nilipour ◽  
Parviz Maftoon ◽  
Vahid Nejati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Brain Wave ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Late Bilinguals

Background: The P600 brain wave reflects syntactic processes in response to different first language (L1) syntactic violations, syntactic repair, structural reanalysis, and specific semantic components. Unlike semantic processing, aspects of the second language (L2) syntactic processing differ from the L1, particularly at lower levels of proficiency. At higher L2 proficiency, syntactic violations are more likely to result in P600, similar to the L1 native speakers. Objectives: This study aims to assess the effect of proficiency on L2 syntactic processing in late bilinguals and determine whether L1-like cerebral activation patterns will result. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive quantitative research, the subjects were two groups of Persian-English bilinguals (L1=Persian, L2=English; n=10 high-proficient, n=10 low-proficient; gender=female who started learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) after the age of 15 through explicit instructions. Within the violation paradigm, Event-related Potentials (ERPs) were collected from the subjects in the neurocognitive lab of Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, in 2019- 20. The experimental trials of the ERP task included violated English regular past tense verbs. ERP components were compared with those of the L1 (components closer to P600). Results: The t-value for P600 peak latency differed significantly only for the Incorrect past tense verb (ICV) condition and only in O2 (P=0.039463, t=2.2205, CI: 0.003112- 0.11249, P<0.05) between the two groups (higher in the high proficient group). Conclusion: P600 for the high-proficient group demonstrated that L2 proficiency was a more determinant factor in L1-like cortical representation of L2 than the age of acquisition and or the type of context.

scholarly journals Making Room for Second Language Phonotactics: Effects of L2 Learning and Environment on First Language Speech Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Perceptual Illusion ◽  
Perceptual Illusions ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
The Face ◽  
Late Bilinguals

Language-specific restrictions on sound sequences in words can lead to automatic perceptual repair of illicit sound sequences. As an example, no Spanish words begin with /s/-consonant sequences ([#sC]), and where necessary (e.g., foreign loanwords) [#sC] is repaired by inserting an initial [e], (e.g. foreign loanwords, cf., esnob, from English snob). As a result, Spanish speakers tend to perceive an illusory [e] before [#sC] sequences. Interestingly, this perceptual illusion is weaker in early Spanish–English bilinguals, whose other language, English, allows [#sC]. The present study explored whether this apparent influence of the English language on Spanish is restricted to early bilinguals, whose early language experience includes a mixture of both languages, or whether later learning of second language (L2) English can also induce a weakening of the first language (L1) perceptual illusion. Two groups of late Spanish–English bilinguals, immersed in Spanish or English, were tested on the same Spanish AX (same–different) discrimination task used in a study by Carlson et al., (2016) and their results compared with the Spanish monolinguals from Carlson et al.’s study. Like early bilinguals, late bilinguals exhibited a reduced impact of perceptual prothesis on discrimination accuracy. Additionally, late bilinguals, particularly in English immersion, were slowest when responding against the Spanish perceptual illusion. Robust L1 perceptual illusions thus appear to be malleable in the face of later L2 learning. It is argued that these results are consonant with the need for late bilinguals to navigate alternative, conflicting representations of the same acoustic material, even in unilingual L1 speech perception tasks.

Feeling affect in a second language

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Segalowitz ◽  
Pavel Trofimovich ◽  
Elizabeth Gatbonton ◽  
Anna Sokolovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Classification Task ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Implicit Affect ◽  
Concrete Nouns ◽  
L2 Word Recognition

Anecdotal evidence from second language users and results from experimental studies indicate that affectively valent words are not always represented identically in a person’s first language (L1) and second language (L2) mental lexicons. The present study investigated whether such differences reflect how automatic (immediate, involuntary) the processing is of the affective element of affectively valent words, and what the relation is between this kind of processing and general word recognition efficiency for L2 words lacking affective valency. Participants were 48 L1 speakers of English with L2 French. Automaticity of processing adjectives with affective valence was operationalized using an Implicit Affect Association Task (IAAT) developed for this purpose. General efficiency in L2 word recognition was operationalized using a speeded semantic classification task with affectively neutral concrete nouns. Reaction time results from the IAAT showed that the processing of affectively valent words was less automatic in the L2 than in the L1. However, results from the semantic classification task indicated that this effect is not related to general weaker L2 word recognition abilities. Implications for an understanding of the L2 mental lexicon are discussed.

SOURCES OF VARIATION IN SECOND AND NATIVE LANGUAGE SPEAKING PROFICIENCY AMONG COLLEGE-AGED SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Mona Roxana Botezatu ◽  
Taomei Guo ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
Sarah Peterson ◽  
Dalia L. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Internal Sources ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract We evaluated external and internal sources of variation in second language (L2) and native language (L1) proficiency among college students. One hundred and twelve native-English L2 learners completed measures of L1 and L2 speaking proficiency, working memory, and cognitive control and provided self-ratings of language exposure and use. When considering learner-external variation, we found that more frequent L2 exposure predicted higher L2 and L1 proficiency, while earlier L2 exposure predicted higher L2 proficiency, but poorer L1 maintenance. L1–L2 distance limited crosslinguistic transfer of print-to-sound mappings. When considering learner-internal variation, we found that L1 and L2 proficiency were highly correlated and that better working memory, but not cognitive control, accounted for additional variance in L2 and L1 proficiency. More frequent L2 exposure was associated with better cognitive control.

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