29.453, Review: Cognitive Science; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics: Granena, Jackson, Yilmaz (2016)

The LINGUIST List linguist at listserv.linguistlist.org
Fri Jan 26 18:54:13 UTC 2018


LINGUIST List: Vol-29-453. Fri Jan 26 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.453, Review: Cognitive Science; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics: Granena, Jackson, Yilmaz (2016)

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté,
                                   Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Clare Harshey <clare at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2018 13:54:07
From: Sahar Farrahi Avval [saharfa2000 at gmail.com]
Subject: Cognitive Individual Differences in Second Language Processing and Acquisition

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36307517


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/28/28-141.html

EDITOR: Gisela  Granena
EDITOR: Daniel O.  Jackson
EDITOR: Yucel  Yilmaz
TITLE: Cognitive Individual Differences in Second Language Processing and Acquisition
SERIES TITLE: Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 3
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Sahar Farrahi Avval,  

REVIEWS EDITOR: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

This volume under consideration, Cognitive Individual Differences in Second
Language Processing and Acquisition, is an edition by Gisela Granena, Daniel
O. Jackson and Yucel Yilmaz. It is divided into two main parts: the first part
is devoted to reviewing five theoretical and methodological issues on language
learning; the second part is devoted to empirical studies which utilized those
theoretical and methodological issues in the process of carrying out the
research. Besides these two main sections of the book, the editors have
provided an introduction which summarizes each chapter and presents the
rationale for producing this book and each chapter of it.

In the introduction, the authors emphasize that they are going to create a
link between cognitive individual differences (IDs) and previous studies
carried out in the field of second language (SL) acquisition (SLA) and other
related fields. Furthermore, definitions of some cognitive abilities are
provided. The role of cognitive IDs in SL learning unifies all chapters of
this book.

Chapter One, which is entitled “Foreign language aptitude (FLA), acquisitional
sequences, and psycholinguistic processes” by Peter Skehan, emphasizes the
role of language aptitude in SLA and also its relation to specific aspects of
SLA. For example, in this chapter, the macro approach is introduced; this
prominently contributes to understanding of aptitude, and some stages relate
FLA constructs to stages involved in second language learning (SLL). All
stages are defined clearly and evidence is presented for them.

Sources of evidence and automatization are other issues discussed in the
chapter although it is mentioned that there is not enough evidence of  a link
between aptitude and automatization.

The author continues to make a distinction between explicit and implicit
language processing and knowledge. Also he stipulates that the analysis done
is related to FLA. In addition, different FLA tests such as MLAT, LLAMA, and
Canal-E are examined in terms of their explicitness or implicitness.

The author ends the chapter by clarifying that beside FLA tests, other
important factors are involved in SLL. Although much research has approved of
language aptitude in SLA, it claims that there is still potentiality of
aptitude treatment interactions based on studies carried out previously in
this field.

Chapter Two, “Miniature natural language learning in L2 acquisition research”
by Kempe and Brooks, reviews experimental research on the learning of
languages. For studying IDs, a miniature natural language learning paradigm is
proposed. Other paradigms highlight the role of linguistic stimuli in language
learning, paradigms such as semi-artificial language learning and finite-state
artificial grammar. All paradigms are extensively explained with accompanying
examples and discussion of research implementing them.

The research applying a set of natural language learning strategies has tested
adult native speakers of English on their learning of Russian noun morphology.
This research is presented in detail in this chapter. Therefore we can say
that by describing the process of this research, the author examines the role
of input and its structure, IDs and interaction of input and learners’
characteristics in learning Russian as an SLA.

Afterwards, the authors provide the results, suggesting that different
cognitive skills are critical for learning different aspects of noun
morphology. Another point worth noting is that, based on the research carried
out, cognitive abilities have a vital role in learning different linguistic
subsystems of SLA.

Chapter Three, “Working memory, language processing, and implications of
malleability for SL acquisition” by Tsai, Au and Jaeggi, insists on the causal
role of working memory (WM) on SLA and its improvement by training. The
authors start the chapter by defining WM as  the “underlying mechanism
involved in memory storage, attentional control, and manipulation of
information in the service of complex cognition” and emphasize its importance
in different studies.  Meanwhile, the authors focus on the role of WM both in
first and SL learning. They continue to clarify that WM can predict and
underlie IDs in the language learning process and they also provide some proof
and suggest some related research.

As a conclusion, the authors stipulate that deeper and further research should
be carried out to examine the mechanism underlying both language processing
and individual differences. Research is needed to provide enough evidence for
the facilitating role of WM in the complex cognitive process of language
learning.

Chapter 3, “Methodological implications of working memory tasks for L2
processing research” by Leeser and Sunderman, examines the results and
correlations of different scoring methods for two complex span tasks, namely
operation span and reading span and correlations, five scoring methods are
applied to see whether changes in operating span scores can change the role of
WM in a sentence interpretation task. They also indicate that a lot of
research have been carried out to study how IDs in WM capacity can affect the
SLL process. In the chapter, they provide some tasks to examine WM in the SLL
process. They refer to the argument that reading span measures language
processing skills not WM capacity and to prove this they provide some research
findings such as MacDonald and Christiansen (2002).

The research they carried out is explained providing some information on the
background, methodology, materials used, procedure, results, and conclusion.
They come up with three interpretations emphasizing that scoring methods
across reading span and operation span were significantly related and that
among five implemented scoring methods just three were significantly related
to the sentence interpretation measure which was the focus of this study.

They conclude that their study is not free of shortcomings, one of which is
underestimating the need for establishing a set of guidelines in the use and
scoring of complex span measures in SLL process.

Chapter Five which is entitled “Analyzing individual differences in SL
research” and is written by Linck, is the final chapter of the first section
of this volume; it demonstrates that SL learners differ in many aspects,
whether cognitive or linguistic, such as personality, motivational factors,
and SL proficiency. The focus of this chapter is the use of mixed effects
models which use K statistical software for examining IDs in SL research; but
first Linck introduces and defines the mixed effects model and its advantages.

The author familiarizes the reader with the implementation of this model in SL
research by providing examples, such as his trilingual language switching and
defines clearly how to code categorical factors and provides some guidelines
for interpreting  the output and estimating the effect sizes.

He ends the chapter by highlighting the benefits of the mixed effects of the
model such as having the capability to model the effect of several variables
at different levels of analysis simultaneously.

Chapter Six, “entitled “Music, song and speech” is the opening chapter of the
second section involving the empirical research.The authors set out to show
the positive effect of musical aptitude on language acquisition. They explore
how musical talent raises a person’s ability to recognize, copy and memorize
foreign languages.

The authors begin the chapter by defining the link between language and music,
and to shed light on the issue they provide briefly some information on two
studies carried out to show the inter-relation between SLL and music. For
example, they show how the ability to sing can affect the ability to produce
speech; specifically the first study examines how singing capacity can predict
accent imitation ability. Final results show that singing ability and
educational background are central to accent imitation. 

Another issue discussed issue in this chapter is the relation between
vocalization and neural factors. It is claimed that speech therapy for singing
indicates that singing and production are related to a high degree and that
song-like input can improve first language acquisition.

This chapter ends with emphasis on the role of playing a musical instrument
and musical talent in learning languages.

Chapter Seven, “An empirical study of working memory, personality, and SL
construction learning” by Jackson, presents the effects of WM and some
personality traits on novel SLL. The paradigm used in the study is artificial.
In the literature review, Jackson provides some background information on WM
and novel SLL and defines each term briefly. He claims that IDs potential for
rewarding interaction between learner abilities and instructional treatments
is a practical implication of cognitive IDs which learners can make use of to
improve outcomes when some instructional techniques are applied.

In the study carried out by him, Jackson clarifies the aim and the hypothesis,
which is to examine the role of IDs in adult SLA following a usage based
account focused on SL construction. He poses four hypotheses for his study and
tests each of them.

Finally, he concludes from the results that scores on both WM tasks were
positively and significantly related to generalization test scores. He
emphasizes that this study has certain shortcomings such as the lack of
formality and lower ability for some measures and hopes that further
investigations can eradicate these shortcomings.

Chapter Eight, “Elicited imitation as a measure of implicit L2 knowledge” by
Granena, opens up with defining elicited imitation (EI) and its role in SL
acquisition. The author claims that EI has attracted the attention of
researchers in this field. He continues to talk about EI by explaining its
validity. In order to make it less artificial, Granena recommends that the
test be more meaning based, similar to spontaneous language use and he also
points out that the construct validity of EI is another noteworthy issue. In
his idea, contributing to testing validity of EI as a measure of implicit SL
knowledge, by looking at whether IDs in two cognitive variables (WM and STM
capacity), can affect the performance in an EI test is the focus.

After carrying out the research, he concludes that neither of the cognitive
variables mentioned above mediated test scores contributing to the validity of
EI and memory span did not affect EI performance, and that the use of implicit
second knowledge may be independent from individual differences in some
cognitive abilities.

Chapter Nine is entitled “Working memory and L2 English speakers’ primed and
subsequent production of passives” by McDonough and Kim. In their paper, the
authors explore the usage of cognitive variables in making inferences about
the cognitive processes underlying a language learning condition. To fulfil
the purpose, they conducted a study of 64 English SL speakers to test the
relationship between WM and SL speakers’ primed and subsequent production of
passives under different language conditions. They hypothesized that WM only
correlates with structural priming. To test WM of the participants, they
applied the aural running span test by Broadway and Engle (2010). The
participants’ production was recorded in four sessions. The audio recordings
were transcribed and analyzed, and the results showed that WM correlated with
learners’ primed production only under a no-lag condition involving explicit
meaning.

Chapter Ten, “Interrelationships among L2 linguistic knowledge, working memory
functions, and L2 reading” by Çeçen and Erçetin, examines whether SL reading
comprehension is related to processing and storage functions of WM as well as
explicit and implicit knowledge sources in the SL. The researchers conducted
the study on 84 freshman students within the age range of 20-23. They applied
RST and OST,  each of which had four levels. For measuring WM and SL implicit
knowledge, TGJT and EOI were used and for measuring SL explicit knowledge,
UGJT and MKT were used.

Finally, the study revealed that SL knowledge and processing can significantly
predict TOEFL reading comprehension scores and the findings emphasized the
relationship between WM operations and SL linguistic knowledge and also their
contribution to reading comprehension.

Chapter Eleven, “Executive control and phonological processing in language
acquisition” written by Darcy and Mora, focuses on a study carried out in
order to compare the relationship between cognitive control and L2
phonological process in two groups of L2 learners with totally different
linguistic backgrounds. After providing some definitions of the key terms, the
authors report how they carried out their research. Spanish learners of
English were tested. The participants were a group of 15 learners who had
grown up mono-lingual, speaking first language Spanish, and 30 participants
who had grown up bilingually speaking Spanish and Catalan. The proficiency of
the two groups was measured and a phonological processing task was given to
them. The results showed that inhibitory control seemed to play a role in L2
phonological development when learners are monolingual and not when they are
bilingual.

Chapter Twelve, “Corrective feedback and working memory capacity” by Goo, is a
replication of Goo (2012) which had been carried out to compare recast
feedback with metalinguistic feedback in terms of the development of the
English that-trace filler and which examined the role of WM in the extent to
which L2 learners benefitted from the two feedbacks.

To do so, 83 Korean EFL learners were selected and randomly assigned to one of
the three groups of recast (N=24), metalinguistic (N=27) and control group
(N=32). A pretest, treatment, posttest and delayed posttest were applied to
the participants. The results showed that unlike the original story (GOO,
2012) which had shown a significant relationship between WM and the
effectiveness of the two types of corrective feedback, there was no
significant relationship between the two in the present study. 

Chapter Thirteen, “The interaction between feedback exposure condition and
phonetic coding ability” by Yilmaz and Koylu,tried to explore whether
cognitive abilities for language learning involving explicit processes
interact differently with learning outcomes under different negative feedback
conditions. The researchers, in order to fulfil the purpose, carried out their
research on 48 participants from a language university in the US. The
participants were native speakers of Mandarin and had never been exposed to
Turkish before and they had not had linguistic courses up until then. The
participants studied the orthographic and phonological forms of 39 Turkish
words through an online instructional module before the experiment.
Afterwards, three communication tasks were administered to the participants as
treatments, then a posttest was administered. Finally, the results showed that
explicit language aptitude (ELA) affects learning outcomes only when learners
receive explicit language feedback.

Chapter Fourteenth, as the closing chapter of the book, is entitled “The role
of explicit language aptitude in implicit, explicit, and mixed feedback
conditions” and is written by Yilmaz, Granena and Meyer. This chapter is
devoted to exploring the interaction between one of the components of
Carroll’s (1962) aptitude model (phonetic coding ability (PCA)) and the
effectiveness of feedback condition. In order to discover this interaction,
the researchers selected 80 participants who were L2 learners of English who
underwent three oral production tests. The findings showed that there was an
interaction between PCA and learners’ posttest performance in the receivers’
condition.

EVALUATION

The volume under review is composed of two main sections, the first of which
is devoted to the theoretical issues underlying the methodological issues in
the articles of the second section of this volume. 

The second section contains 9 papers such that each of them has a different
approach to language learning and their relation with cognitive factors
underlying language learning is discussed.

Obviously, the editors of the book have intended to provide a book which may
be helpful to the language teachers willing to try and apply new approaches in
their teaching practice.

One of the positive points about this book is the careful and skillful edition
of the papers which has made it easy to direct attention of the practitioners
from theoretical issues to the related practical section of the book and to
provide links between the two parts.

Another positive point seems to be the careful provision of tables and
diagrams whenever needed, which has made it quite easy for the reader to
comprehend the theoretical parts of the volume. 

But one of the downsides of the book might be the lack of enough theoretical
discussion sections in contrast to the number of practical articles;
consequently, a one to one correlation between the theoretical and practical
issues is suggested. 

All in all, it seems that the editors are successful at producing a handy
volume for language teachers, practitioners and those who are interested in
studying the relationship between cognitive IDs and language learning. Reading
of this book is recommended to anyone interested in the issues presented and
discussed in the field of language teaching and learning.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Sahar Farrahi Avval, a Ph. D candidate in ELT, Iran. Interested in
psychological factors affecting teaching and learning languages





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
            http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-29-453	
----------------------------------------------------------






More information about the LINGUIST mailing list