Modularity, working memory, and second language acquisition: A research program

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Truscott
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Research Program ◽  
The State ◽  
Important Place ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Way

Considerable reason exists to view the mind, and language within it, as modular, and this view has an important place in research and theory in second language acquisition (SLA) and beyond. But it has had very little impact on the study of working memory and its role in SLA. This article considers the need for modular study of working memory, looking at the state of common approaches to the subject and the evidence for modularity, and then considering what working memory should look like in a modular mind. It then sketches a research program to explore working memory within a modular mind and particularly its role in SLA. This is followed by a brief look at the way that the Modular Online Growth and Use of Language (MOGUL) approach can serve as a framework for such a program.

The state of emergentism in second language acquisition

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Gregg
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
A Priori ◽  
The State ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Mind

‘Emergentism’ is the name that has recently been given to a general approach to cognition that stresses the interaction between organism and environment and that denies the existence of pre-determined, domain-specific faculties or capacities. Emergentism thus offers itself as an alternative to modular, ‘special nativist’ theories of the mind, such as theories of Universal Grammar (UG). In language acquisition, emergentists claim that simple learning mechanisms, of the kind attested elsewhere in cognition, are sufficient to bring about the emergence of complex language representations. In this article, I consider, and reject, several a priori arguments often raised against ‘special nativism’. I then look at some of the arguments and evidence for an emergentist account of second language acquisition (SLA), and show that emergentists have so far failed to take into account, let alone defeat, standard Poverty of the Stimulus arguments for ‘special nativism’, and have equally failed to show how language competence could ‘emerge’.

Consciousness in SLA: A modular perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Truscott
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive System ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
Considerable Work ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Language Module ◽  
The Way

Understanding the place of consciousness in second language acquisition (SLA) is crucial for an understanding of how acquisition occurs. Considerable work has been done on this topic, but nearly all of it assumes a highly non-modular view, according to which language and its development is ‘nothing special’. As this assumption runs counter to much of the thinking in SLA, there is a need for an account of the place of consciousness within a framework that assumes that core aspects of language compose a distinct module (or modules) of the mind: that language is something special. This article offers such an account within the reasonably well-established MOGUL framework, with its approach to consciousness and the place of consciousness in the cognitive system. After briefly reviewing existing work and then the topics of modularity and consciousness, it presents MOGUL and its treatment of consciousness and then considers the way that this account applies to (1) the initial establishment of linguistic representations in perception, (2) the way these representations are then consolidated, (3) restructuring of the system of representations, and (4) the development of linguistic knowledge outside the language module, i.e. conceptual linguistic knowledge.

scholarly journals The second language acquisition: problems and challenges for Georgian Deaf community

2021 ◽  
Vol X (3) ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
Tamar Makharoblidze ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
State Language

As stated in the title, the paper is devoted to the issue of second language acquisition by Deaf people in Georgia, describing the current situation and the challenges. There are about 2500 Deaf and hard of hearing residents in Georgia. Being the linguistic minority in the country, these people communicate with each-other in the Georgian Sign Language – GESL. The second native language for local Deaf and hard of hearing people is the Georgian spoken language – the State language. In many countries Deaf people are bilingual, while it is hard to consider the local Deaf and hard of hearing people bilingual, as the knowledge of spoken Georgian on the level of a native language among the Deaf residents is not observed. Unfortunately in Georgia there are no studies concerning the second language acquisition for Deaf and hard of hearing people. The main problems are the agrammatism in written communication on the state language and the ignorance of deferent hierarchical levels of spoken Georgian. This short paper offers the key issues for the plan of strategy of spoken Georgian acquisition for local Deaf and hard of hearing residents.

UG and SLA: The access question, and how to beg it

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Gregg
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Begging The Question ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
The Mind

AbstractEpstein, Flynn, and Martohardjono trivialize the question of access to universal grammar in second language acquisition by arguing against a straw-man version of the no-access position and by begging the question of how second language (L2) knowledge is represented in the mind/brain of an adult L2 learner. They compound their errors by employing a research methodology that fails to provide any relevant evidence.

Contemporary tutorial call

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Jarrad R. Merlo ◽  
Paul A. Gruba
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
University Students ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The State ◽  
Teaching Presence ◽  
Video Tutorials ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Despite an increased emphasis on form-focused instruction (FFI), the use of the computer as a grammar tutor has remained largelyunexamined for nearly two decades. With new technologies at hand, there is a need to take a fresh look at online grammar tutors andlink designs more strongly to contemporary second language acquisition (SLA) principles and the concept of a teaching presence. Theaim of this study, therefore, is to investigate the potential of using a purpose-built digital video series as a virtual grammartutor. To achieve this aim, we used a pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test to evaluate the impact of a purpose-built grammar video on 62 EFL university students. The results of the study demonstrate that purpose-built video has strong potential for use as a virtual grammar tutor. Consequently, it may be possible to improve the state of Tutorial CALL from a drill-based approach to one that is more substantive through the development of a series of step-based video tutorials that tutor, allow for the practice of and evaluate second language (L2) grammar skills.

The adaptation of French liquids in Haitian

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-410
Author(s):  
Benjamin Storme
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Perceptual Asymmetry ◽  
The Way

Abstract Haitian, a French-lexifier creole with a Gbe substrate, shows an asymmetry in the way it has adapted French liquids: the French lateral was maintained in postvocalic coda position in Haitian, but the French rhotic was systematically deleted in this position. This paper presents the results of a perception study showing that the lateral is generally more perceptible than the rhotic in coda position in Modern French. The hypothesis that perception played a role in the phonological asymmetry in Haitian is compatible with these results. The paper sketches an analysis of how the perceptual asymmetry between French coda laterals and rhotics resulted in the emergence of a new phonological grammar, distinct from both the grammar of the substrate and superstrate languages. This analysis is in line with previous works on the role of perception in second language acquisition, loanword adaptation, creolization, and sound change more generally.

Relative clause preference in learners of Chinese as a second language

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Qiang ◽  
Guo Xiaoyu ◽  
Yao Yiru ◽  
Nicole Müller
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Chinese Subject ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Universal Rule

AbstractIt has been debated whether preference for subject-extracted relative clauses in language processing is a universal rule, with evidence from both first and second language acquisition studies. But very few studies focus on learners of Chinese as a second language. The current research studied Chinese subject/object-extracted relative clauses processing among the learners of Chinese as a second language by a self-paced reading experiment. The results demonstrate a faster and more accurate processing of subject-extracted relative clauses in both subject and object modifying conditions, adding more evidence to the universal preference for the subject-extracted relative clauses. Both Frequency-Based Accounts and Memory-Based Accounts are discussed related to the current findings.

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