Cross-Situational Word Learning in Two Foreign Languages: Effects of Native Language and Perceptual Difficulty

Cross-situational word learning (CSWL) paradigms have gained traction in recent years as a way to examine word learning in ambiguous scenarios in infancy, childhood, and adulthood. However, no study thus far has examined how CSWL paradigms may provide viable learning pathways for second language (L2) word learning. Here, we used a CSWL paradigm to examine how native Australian English (AusE) speakers learned novel Dutch (Experiment 1) and Brazilian Portuguese (Experiment 2) word-object pairings. During each learning phase trial, two words and objects were presented without indication as to which auditory word belonged to which visual referent. The two auditory words formed a non-minimal or vowel minimal pair. Minimal pairs were classified as “perceptually easy” or “perceptually difficult” based on the acoustic-phonetic relationship between AusE and each L2. At test, participants again saw two visual referents but heard one auditory label and were asked to select the corresponding referent. We predicted that accuracy would be highest for non-minimal pair trials (in which the auditory words associated with the target and distractor object formed a non-minimal pair), followed by perceptually easy minimal pairs, with lowest accuracy for perceptually difficult minimal pair trials. Our results support these hypotheses: While accuracy was above chance for all pair types, in both experiments accuracy was highest for non-minimal pair trials, followed by perceptually easy and then perceptually difficult minimal pair trials. These results are the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of CSWL in adult L2 word learning. Furthermore, the difference between perceptually easy and perceptually difficult minimal pairs in both language groups suggests that the acoustic-phonetic relationship between the L1-L2 is an important factor in novel L2 word learning in ambiguous learning scenarios. We discuss the implications of our findings for L2 acquisition, cross-situational learning and encoding of phonetic detail in a foreign language.

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Better to Be Alone than in Bad Company: Cognate Synonyms Impair Word Learning

Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.3390/bs10080123 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 123

Author(s):

Eneko Antón ◽

Jon Andoni Duñabeitia

Keyword(s):

Word Learning ◽

Word Association ◽

Recognition Task ◽

The Other ◽

Matching Task ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

New Words ◽

L2 Word Learning ◽

Concrete Concepts ◽

Better Than

The effects of cognate synonymy in L2 word learning are explored. Participants learned the names of well-known concrete concepts in a new fictional language following a picture-word association paradigm. Half of the concepts (set A) had two possible translations in the new language (i.e., both words were synonyms): one was a cognate in participants’ L1 and the other one was not. The other half of the concepts (set B) had only one possible translation in the new language, a non-cognate word. After learning the new words, participants’ memory was tested in a picture-word matching task and a translation recognition task. In line with previous findings, our results clearly indicate that cognates are much easier to learn, as we found that the cognate translation was remembered much better than both its non-cognate synonym and the non-cognate from set B. Our results also seem to suggest that non-cognates without cognate synonyms (set B) are better learned than non-cognates with cognate synonyms (set A). This suggests that, at early stages of L2 acquisition, learning a cognate would produce a poorer acquisition of its non-cognate synonym, as compared to a solely learned non-cognate. These results are discussed in the light of different theories and models of bilingual mental lexicon.

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Better to Be Alone Than in Bad Company: Cognate Synonyms Impair Word Learning

10.20944/preprints202007.0077.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Eneko Antón ◽

Jon Andoni Duñabeitia

Keyword(s):

Word Learning ◽

Word Association ◽

Recognition Task ◽

The Other ◽

Matching Task ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

New Words ◽

L2 Word Learning ◽

Concrete Concepts ◽

Better Than

The effects of cognate synonymy in L2 word learning are explored. Participants learned the names of well-known concrete concepts in a new fictional language following a picture-word association paradigm. Half of the concepts (set A) had two possible translations in the new language (i.e., both words were synonyms): one was a cognate in participants’ L1 and the other one was not. The other half of the concepts (set B) had only one possible translation in the new language, a non-cognate word. After learning the new words, participants’ memory was tested in a picture-word matching task and a translation recognition task. In line with previous findings, our results clearly indicate that cognates are much easier to learn, as we found that the cognate translation was remembered much better than both its non-cognate synonym and the non-cognate from set B. Our results also seem to suggest that non-cognates without cognate synonyms (set B) are better learned than non-cognates with cognate synonyms (set A). This suggests that, at early stages of L2 acquisition, learning a cognate would produce a poorer acquisition of its non-cognate synonym, as compared to a solely learned non-cognate. These results are discussed under the light of different theories and models of bilingual mental lexicon.

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Learning words in a new language: Orthography doesn't always help

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728913000436 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 384-395 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

PAOLA ESCUDERO ◽

ELLEN SIMON ◽

KAREN E. MULAK

Keyword(s):

Word Recognition ◽

Word Learning ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Recognition Accuracy ◽

Minimal Pair ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Minimal Pairs ◽

The Relationship ◽

Better Than

Previous studies have shown that orthography is activated during speech processing and that it may have positive and negative effects for non-native listeners. The present study examines whether the effect of orthography on non-native word learning depends on the relationship between the grapheme–phoneme correspondences across the native and non-native orthographic systems. Specifically, congruence between grapheme–phoneme correspondences across the listeners’ languages is predicted to aid word recognition, while incongruence is predicted to hinder it. Native Spanish listeners who were Dutch learners or naïve listeners (with no exposure to Dutch) were taught Dutch pseudowords and their visual referents. They were trained with only auditory forms or with auditory and orthographic forms. During testing, non-native listeners were less accurate when the target and distractor pseudowords formed a minimal pair (differing in only one vowel) than when they formed a non-minimal pair, and performed better on perceptually easy than on perceptually difficult minimal pairs. For perceptually difficult minimal pairs, Dutch learners performed better than naïve listeners and Dutch proficiency predicted learners’ word recognition accuracy. Most importantly and as predicted, exposure to orthographic forms during training aided performance on minimal pairs with congruent orthography, while it hindered performance on minimal pairs with incongruent orthography.

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In hand and in mind: Effects of gesture production and viewing on second language word learning

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716417000388 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 355-381 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

LAURA M. MORETT

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Word Learning ◽

Word Recall ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Word Meanings ◽

Spontaneous Production ◽

L2 Word Learning ◽

Gesture Production ◽

Do So

ABSTRACTTo date, within the context of second language (L2) word learning, nonspontaneous representational gesture viewing's impact on memory and spontaneous gesture production's impact on communication have been examined separately. Thus, it is unclear whether and how these effects interact, particularly in the same individuals. The present study addresses this question by comparing these effects and by examining their influence on one another. To do so, a dialogic task was employed in which participants learned words from a novel L2 and taught them to other similar participants. The results show that viewing nonspontaneous representational gesture did not affect L2 word recall whereas spontaneous production of different gesture types affected communication and memory of L2 word meanings in varying ways. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that gesture viewing primes production of similar types of gestures, and that the quantity and types of gestures produced differ based on the context of communication. These results indicate that the effects of spontaneous gesture production on communication are stronger than the effects of nonspontaneous gesture viewing on memory, and that these effects influence one another. Together, these results demonstrate that spontaneous gesture production and nonspontaneous gesture viewing play distinct but interrelated roles in L2 acquisition.

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AL-AKHTHA’ FII IKTISAB AL-TSUNAIYAT AL-SHUGHRA

LiNGUA Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa dan Sastra ◽

10.18860/ling.v5i1.619 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Miftahul Huda

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Language Learning ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Minimal Pair ◽

Minimal Pairs ◽

The Subject ◽

Child Age

Language acquisition starts from the ability of listening basic letter(iktisab al-ashwat) since child age. The letter of a language is limited in number, and sometimes there is similarity of letters among languages. The similarity of letters in two languages make it easy to learn the language. On the contrary, the obstacle of language learning can be caused by different letters between two languages (mother tongue and second/foreign language). The problem may be caused by minimal pairs (tsunaiyat al-shughro). This research aims at finding out the error of minimal pair acquisition, with the subject of Indonesian students in Jami’ah Malik Saud Saudi Arabia, with the method of error analysis. The study concludes that in iktisab al-ashwat of minimal pairs, the error is around 3,3 %-58,3%. Second: the error on minimal pairs occurs on the letters shift ?? ?? ? to be ? , letter ? to be ? , letter ? to be ? , letter ? to be ? , letter ? to be ?? , and letter ? to be ?.

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Differences in Sickness Allowance Receipt between Swedish Speakers and Finnish Speakers in Finland

Finnish Yearbook of Population Research ◽

10.23979/fypr.66598 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 43-58 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kaarina S. Reini ◽

Jan Saarela

Keyword(s):

Regression Models ◽

Health Condition ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Individual Level ◽

Objective Health ◽

Language Groups ◽

Health Measure ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

The Difference ◽

The Individual

Previous research has documented lower disability retirement and mortality rates of Swedish speakers as compared with Finnish speakers in Finland. This paper is the first to compare the two language groups with regard to the receipt of sickness allowance, which is an objective health measure that reflects a less severe poor health condition. Register-based data covering the years 1988-2011 are used. We estimate logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations to account for repeated observations at the individual level. We find that Swedish-speaking men have approximately 30 percent lower odds of receiving sickness allowance than Finnish-speaking men, whereas the difference in women is about 15 percent. In correspondence with previous research on all-cause mortality at working ages, we find no language-group difference in sickness allowance receipt in the socially most successful subgroup of the population.

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Using Speakers' Referential Intentions to Model Early Cross-Situational Word Learning

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02335.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 578-585 ◽

Cited By ~ 120

Author(s):

Michael C. Frank ◽

Noah D. Goodman ◽

Joshua B. Tenenbaum

Keyword(s):

Computational Model ◽

Word Learning ◽

Word Meaning ◽

Mutual Exclusivity ◽

Object Individuation ◽

Word Meanings ◽

Inference Problems ◽

Corpus Data ◽

Situational Learning

Word learning is a “chicken and egg” problem. If a child could understand speakers' utterances, it would be easy to learn the meanings of individual words, and once a child knows what many words mean, it is easy to infer speakers' intended meanings. To the beginning learner, however, both individual word meanings and speakers' intentions are unknown. We describe a computational model of word learning that solves these two inference problems in parallel, rather than relying exclusively on either the inferred meanings of utterances or cross-situational word-meaning associations. We tested our model using annotated corpus data and found that it inferred pairings between words and object concepts with higher precision than comparison models. Moreover, as the result of making probabilistic inferences about speakers' intentions, our model explains a variety of behavioral phenomena described in the word-learning literature. These phenomena include mutual exclusivity, one-trial learning, cross-situational learning, the role of words in object individuation, and the use of inferred intentions to disambiguate reference.

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Word knowledge, learning and acquisition in a second language: Proposed replications of Elgort (2011) and Qiao and Forster (2017)

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444819000338 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Irina Elgort

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Word Learning ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Word Knowledge ◽

L2 Word Learning ◽

Alternative Approaches ◽

To Come ◽

Prime Lexicality Effect ◽

The Mind ◽

L2 Vocabulary

AbstractWhat does it mean to learn a word? How can we tell when a sequence of letters or sounds becomes a word in the mind of the learner? While many second language (L2) vocabulary teaching and learning studies continue to use traditional vocabulary tests to measure learning (such as multiple choice, translation, gap-fill), these measures tend to come short when researchers want to address theoretical questions about the nature of L2 word knowledge. In the present paper, I argue for conceptualising word learning as lexicalisation, which necessitates the use of alternative approaches to measuring learning. I then propose approximate and conceptual replications of two theoretically motivated L2 word learning studies, Elgort (2011) and Qiao and Forster (2017), that used the Prime Lexicality Effect as a measure of lexicalisation of deliberately learned L2 words.

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