Individualization of practice distribution in second language grammar learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuichi Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Spaced Learning ◽  
Grammar Learning ◽  
Posttest Performance ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Practice Distribution

Abstract The aim of the present study was establishing to what extent individual differences in cognitive aptitudes were associated with second language (L2) morphological acquisition under different practice distribution. Sixty participants studied morphological rules of a novel miniature-language system in order to use them for oral production. They engaged in four training sessions in either shorter-spaced learning (twice a week) or longer-spaced learning conditions (once a week). Their oral production performance both during and after the training was related to their metalinguistic rule rehearsal ability (MRRA) and working memory capacity (WMC). Multiple regression analyses revealed that MRRA predicted learners’ training and posttest performance mainly under the longer-spaced condition, while WMC played a limited role at best under both learning conditions. These results suggest that practice distribution may be individualized based on learners’ aptitude strengths to optimize L2 morphological learning.

Exploratory research on second language practice distribution: An Aptitude × Treatment interaction

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUICHI SUZUKI ◽  
ROBERT DEKEYSER
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Distributed Practice ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Massed Practice ◽  
Treatment Interaction ◽  
Aptitude Treatment Interaction ◽  
Practice Distribution

ABSTRACTThe current exploratory study aimed at investigating the role of cognitive aptitudes in determining the effect of practice distribution on second language learning. The study investigated to what extent language-analytic ability and working-memory capacity predicted the acquisition of grammar under two learning conditions that differ in the interval between the two training sessions. Learners of Japanese as a second language were trained on an element of Japanese morphosyntax under either distributed practice (7-day interval) or massed practice (1-day interval). The results revealed that language-analytic ability was only related to performance after distributed practice, whereas working-memory capacity was only related to performance after massed practice. These Aptitude × Treatment interaction findings can help establish the learning processes operating under distributed/massed practice conditions.

Effects of Instruction on Sla: Issues and Evidence

1988 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 164-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Harley
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
L2 Instruction ◽  
Individual Variables

Inverstigating the effects of classroom instruction on second language acquisition is a fascinating, but formidable, task: fascinating, because it addresses fundamental issues concerning the nature of the mental processes underlying SLA and how they are affected by different learning conditions; formidable, because of the complex, multifaceted nature of both SLA and instruction, the difficulty of establishing valid and reliable profiles of each, and the interacting effects of social context and individual variables. In this brief survey, empiricial research on the effects of L2 instruction is outlined in relation to a few basic issues. For more detailed reviews of the literature, the reader is referred to Long (1983; 1988), Pica (1983a), Ellis (1984a; 1985), and Chaudron (1988).

The interaction of working memory capacity and engagement with recasts on different L2 outcome measures: A replication of Révész ()

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Javad Alipour ◽  
Maryam Mohebi ◽  
Ali Roohani
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Learner Engagement ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Coding Method ◽  
Lower Effect ◽  
Description Task

Abstract We report on a conceptual replication of Révész (2012) in order to investigate the idea whether learners provided with recasts do engage in different kinds of behavioral engagement as a function of their working memory and if/how this engagement comes to bear on performance on different measures. Engagement with recasts was measured through a coding method categorizing responses to the recasts running the gamut from: (1) no opportunity, (2) opportunity, but did not repeat, (3) repeated the recasted form, (4) negotiated the response, to (5) used the recasted form later in the discourse. Consistent with Révész (2012), though with lower effect sizes, the results showed that recasts were most conducive to gains on an oral task and less so on a written description task, but non-effective on a grammaticality judgment task. Furthermore, it was revealed that learners with a high phonological short-term memory were more prone to recast-induced engagement on an oral production task, whereas those enjoying a higher reading span were considerably less so. We propose that learner engagement be deemed more important in future interaction research.

scholarly journals A ‘mixed methods’ approach for investigating aspect in a second language

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-66
Author(s):  
Laura Domínguez
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Oral Production

Abstract A leading hypothesis in the study of the L2 acquisition of aspect-related verbal morphemes is the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH) (Andersen, 1989, 1991; Andersen & Shirai, 1994) which claims that learners’ use of these forms is determined by the lexical properties of events. Reviews of major studies reveal that data from one single task, usually an open-ended oral task, have often been used to support this hypothesis. I discuss copious evidence from the acquisition of Spanish to argue that when studies use a ‘mixed methods’ approach (e.g. combining oral production and experimentally elicited data) they are able to test existing hypotheses such as the LAH more reliably and can offer more valuable insights. Existing evidence from the SPLLOC project (Domínguez, Tracy-Ventura, Arche, Mitchell, & Myles, 2013; Mitchell, Domínguez, Arche, Myles, & Marsden, 2008) is used as supporting evidence for this approach and to raise questions about the appropriateness of some research methods widely used in our field.

Individual differences, cognitive abilities, aptitude complexes and learning conditions in second language acquisition

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Condition ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Complex Hypothesis ◽  
Acquisition Processes

Individual differences in resource availability, and the patterns of cognitive abilities they contribute to, are important to:• explaining variation between learners in the effectiveness of second language (L2) instructional treatments;• describing differences in implicit, incidental and explicit L2 learning processes; and• explaining child-adult differences in acquisition processes, and therefore to any general theory of second language acquisition (SLA).In this article I describe a framework for research into the effects of cognitive abilities on SLA which is based on four interlocking hypotheses. These hypotheses are drawn from research in psychology, education and SLA and, where possible, I present evidence to support each of them. The hypotheses are:1) the Aptitude Complex Hypothesis;2) the Ability Differentiation Hypothesis;3) the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis; and4) the Fundamental Similarity Hypothesis.The hypotheses, and the relationships between them, define an Aptitude Complex/Ability Differentiation framework for further examining the influence of individual differences in cognitive abilities on SLA, and for developing a theoretically motivated measure of language learning aptitude. I argue that such research should adopt the interactionist approach described by Snow (1994) to identifying individual difference/learning condition interactions at a number of levels. I illustrate some of these interactions.

THE ROLE OF PROCEDURAL LEARNING ABILITY IN AUTOMATIZATION OF L2 MORPHOLOGY UNDER DIFFERENT LEARNING SCHEDULES

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 923-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuichi Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Production Test ◽  
Short Spacing ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Two Measures

AbstractThis paper reports on the reanalysis of Suzuki’s (2017) experiment and investigated the extent to which learning schedules influence automatization of second language (L2) morphology. Sixty participants were separated into two groups, which studied morphological rules for oral production under short-spacing (3.3-day intervals) and long-spacing learning conditions (7-day intervals). Their oral production test performance resulted in two measures of automatization: reaction time (RT) as an index of speedup and coefficient of variance (CV) as an index of stability/restructuring. The results showed that, while RT of both groups declined significantly after the training, the 3.3-day group exhibited greater propensity for restructuring than the 7-day group. Furthermore, procedural learning ability measured by the Tower of London task was significantly associated with RT, but not with CV, in the 3.3-day group only. These findings suggest that learning schedules and procedural learning ability influence different stages of automatization of L2 morphological learning.

Spreekvaardigheidstoetsing

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 149-159
Author(s):  
L.J.A. Nienhuis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Speaking Skill

At higher levels of second language proficiency, the speaking skill is frequently measured in interviews, but the use of guided tests and group discussions is common too and can improve efficiency. Guided test and discussion create rather different speech situations and might well elicitate dissimilar kinds of oral production: the informal setting of group discussion is certainly less 'anxiety-provoking' and elicitates more natural speech, but it may lead to the use of elementary and unmonitored, minimally correct speech. In this article we report on a small-scale empirical investigation intended to lay bare differences between the language used in a guided test and in a group discussion at the level of 1st year university students of French. Although the discussion subject was defined in such a way that it would enable students to discuss a rather wide range of aspects, even superficial analysis of guided test and discussion subject suggested the first to be more content valid: this quality manifested itself in the higher proportion of different words used in the guided test answers. In other respects, there were no systematic differences between test and discussion: proportions of unique words and of less frequent words, in relation to the number of different words, were nearly the same in the two kinds of speech production. Contrary to intuitive expectation, the number of lexical and grammatical errors was greater in test production (i.e. in the formal setting) than in discussion, the guided test being perhaps a more demanding task, but the possible conclusion that the overall quality of second language use was less good in the guided test was not supported by other findings: mean scores of the three raters did not show systematic differences between test and discussion. Correlations between test scores and discussion scores were about .77, suggesting that as tests of speaking proficiency when the criterion is correctness, guided test and discussion are not as different as they may seem. The main difference between the two is in rater reliability: interrater correlations for the test were about .82; for the discussion the mean of three correlations was .52, but two of them approximated .60. One of the problems of rating discussions may be the rather unequal participation of the members of the group. The quality of discussion as a speaking proficiency test can, in our opinion, be improved by defining its subject in such a way that the aspects discussed will be sufficiently diverse and by training or instructing students: they should all participate actively and pay attention to regular turn-taking.

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