Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:43:45.625Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EVIDENCE FOR THE DECREASING IMPACT OF COGNITIVE ABILITY ON SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AS PROFICIENCY INCREASES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2015

Ellen J. Serafini  and
Cristina Sanz Open the ORCID record for Cristina Sanz [Opens in a new window]
Ellen J. Serafini*
Affiliation:
George Mason University
Cristina Sanz
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ellen J. Serafini, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, George Mason University, Aquia Building 336, 4400 University Drive, MS 3E5, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigated whether the role of working memory capacity varies over the course of second language (L2) morphosyntactic development. Eighty-seven beginning, intermediate, and advanced university L2 Spanish learners completed two nonverbal tasks measuring executive function (EF) and phonological working memory (PWM) in their native language (English) and two tasks measuring knowledge of ten grammatical structures in Spanish at three points during and after a semester of instruction. Robust relationships between both working memory components, especially PWM, and L2 performance, emerged only for lower level learners, particularly at the start of instruction and 3.5 months later. Findings demonstrate that the facilitative effects of cognitive ability appear to lessen with increasing L2 proficiency and empirically support a developmental perspective of L2 learning.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 607 - 646
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alptekin, C., Erçetin, G., & Özemir, O. (2014). Effects of variation in reading task design on the relationship between working memory capacity and second language reading. The Modern Language Journal, 98, 536–552.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (2003). Working memory requires conscious processes, not vice versa. In Osaka, N. (Ed.), Neural basis of consciousness (pp. 19–34). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J., & Franklin, S. (2003). How conscious experience and working memory interact. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 166–172.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 417–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory: Looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4, 829–839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2010). Working memory. Current Biology, 20, R136–R140.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A., Gathercole, S., & Papagno, C. (1998). The phonological loop as a language learning device. Psychological Review, 105, 158–173.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In Dornic, S. (Ed.), Recent advances in learning and motivation (Vol. VII) , (pp. 47–89). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A., & Logie, R. (1999). Working memory: The multiple-component model. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 28–61). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R., & Chaudron, C. (1994). Elicited imitation as a measure of second-language competence. In Tarone, E., Gass, S., & Cohen, A. (Eds.), Research methodology in second language acquisition (pp. 245–261). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bowden, H. W. (2012, March). Assessment of proficiency through the elicited imitation task. Paper presented at the Georgetown University Roundtable (GURT), Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bowles, M. (2011). Measuring implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge: What can heritage language learners contribute? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 247–271.Google Scholar
Carroll, J. B., & Sapon, S. M. (1959). Modern language aptitude test (MLAT). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Conway, A. R. A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M. J., Miyake, A., & Towse, J. (2007). Variation in working memory: An introduction. In Conway, A. R. A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M. J., Miyake, A., & Towse, J. (Eds.), Variation in Working Memory (pp. 3–17). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Conway, A. R. A., Kane, M. J., Bunting, M. F., Hambrick, D. Z., Wilhelm, O., & Engle, R. W. (2005). Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and a user’s guide. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12, 769–786.Google Scholar
Coughlin, C. E., & Tremblay, A. (2013). Proficiency and working memory based explanations for nonnative speakers’ sensitivity to agreement in sentence processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 615–646.Google Scholar
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450–466.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (1997). Beyond explicit rule learning: Automatizing second language morphosyntax. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 195–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2005). What makes learning second-language grammar difficult? A review of the issues. In DeKeyser, R. (Ed.), Grammatical development in language learning (pp. 1–25). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPatten, B. & Williams, J. (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94–112). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dörnyei, Z., & Skehan, P. (2003). Individual differences in second language learning. In Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 589–630). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dussias, P. E., & Piñar, P. (2010). Effects of reading span and plausibility in the reanalysis of wh-gaps by Chinese-English second language speakers. Second Language Research, 26, 443–472.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2001). Memory for language. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 33–68). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2005). At the interface: Dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 305–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2012). Formulaic language and second language acquisition: Zipf and the phrasal teddy bear. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 17–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2014). Cognitive and social language usage. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36, 397–402.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C., & Sinclair, S. (1996). Working memory in the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax: Putting language in good order. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49, 234–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2004). The definition and measurement of explicit knowledge. Language Learning, 54, 227–275.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 141–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2009). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language. In Ellis, R., Loewen, S., Elder, C., Erlam, R., Philp, J., & Reinders, H. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching (pp. 31–63), Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 19–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R. W., Kane, M. J., & Tuholski, S. W. (1999). Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence, and functions of the prefrontal cortex. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 102–134). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erçetin, G., & Alptekin, C. (2013). The explicit/implicit knowledge distinction and working memory: Implications for second-language reading comprehension. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 727–753.Google Scholar
Erlam, R. (2005). Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 9, 147–171.Google Scholar
Erlam, R. (2006). Elicited imitation as a measure of L2 implicit knowledge: An empirical validation study. Applied Linguistics, 27, 464–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foote, R. (2011). Integrated knowledge of agreement in early and late English-Spanish bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 187–220.Google Scholar
Gass, S. (1994). The reliability of second-language grammaticality judgments. In Tarone, E., Gass, S., & Cohen, A. (Eds.), Research methodology in second-language acquisition (pp. 303–322). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Grey, S., Cox, J. G., Serafini, E. J., & Sanz, C. (2015). The role of individual differences in the study abroad context: Cognitive capacity and language development during short-term intensive language exposure. The Modern Language Journal, 99, 137–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez, X. (2013). The construct validity of grammaticality judgment tests as measures of implicit and explicit knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 423–449.Google Scholar
Harrington, M., & Sawyer, M. (1992). L2 working memory capacity and L2 reading skill. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14, 25–38.Google Scholar
Havik, E., Roberts, L., van Hout, R., Schreuder, R., & Haverkort, M. (2009). Processing subject–object ambiguities in the L2: A self-paced reading study with German L2 learners of Dutch. Language Learning, 59, 73–112.Google Scholar
Howell, D. C. (2008). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Hummel, K. M. (2009). Aptitude, phonological memory, and second language proficiency in non-novice adult learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 225–249.Google Scholar
Juffs, A. (2004). Representation, processing and working memory in a second language. Transactions of the Philological Society, 102, 199–225.Google Scholar
Juffs, A. (2005). The influence of first language on the processing of wh-movement in English as a second language. Second Language Research, 21, 121–151.Google Scholar
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). State-of-the-art article: Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, 137–166.Google Scholar
Kempe, V., & Brooks, P. J. (2008). Second language learning of complex inflectional systems. Language Learning, 58, 703–746.Google Scholar
Kempe, V., Brooks, P. J., & Kharkhurin, A. (2010). Cognitive predictors of generalization of Russian grammatical gender categories. Language Learning, 60, 127–153.Google Scholar
Kormos, J., & Sáfár, A. (2008). Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 11, 261–271.Google Scholar
Larson-Hall, J. (2010). A guide to doing statistics in second language research using SPSS. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leeser, M. J. (2007). Learner-based factors in L2 reading comprehension and processing grammatical form: Topic familiarity and working memory. Language Learning, 57, 229–270.Google Scholar
Li, S. (2014). The associations between language aptitude and second language grammar acquisition: A meta-analytic review of five decades of research. Applied Linguistics, 1–25. doi:10.1093/applin/amu054.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., & Weiss, D. J. (2011). Working memory predicts the acquisition of explicit L2 knowledge. In Sanz, C. & Leow, R. P. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit language learning: Conditions, processes, and knowledge in SLA and bilingualism (pp. 101–113). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J. T., & Bunting, M. F. (2013a). Working memory and second language comprehension and production. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, doi: 10.3758/s13423-013-0565-2 Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Hughes, M. M., Campbell, S. G., Silbert, N. H., Tare, M., Jackson, S. R., & Doughty, C. J. (2013b). Hi-LAB: A new measure of aptitude for high-level language proficiency. Language Learning, 63, 530–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logie, R. H. (2011). The functional organization and capacity limits of working memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 240–245.Google Scholar
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Martin, K. I., & Ellis, N. C. (2012). The roles of phonological STM and working memory in L2 grammar and vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34, 379–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaughlin, B. (1987). Theories of second language learning. London, UK: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Miyake, A. (2001). Individual differences in working memory: Introduction to the special section. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 163–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (1998). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Working memory as language aptitude. In Healy, A. & Bourne, L. (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies on training and retention (pp. 339–365). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (2012). The nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions: Four general conclusions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 8–14.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., & Shah, P. (Eds.). (1999). Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Modern Language Association (2013). Language enrollment database [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.mla.org/flsurvey_search Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2004). The acquisition of Spanish: Morphosyntactic development in monolingual and bilingual L1 acquisition and adult L2 acquisition. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, I., Segalowitz, N., Collentine, J., & Freed, B. (2006). Phonological memory and lexical, narrative, and grammatical skills in second-language oral production by adult learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 377–402.Google Scholar
O’Brien, I., Segalowitz, N., Freed, B., & Collentine, J. (2007). Phonological memory predicts oral fluency gains. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29, 557–582.Google Scholar
Ortega, L., & Iberri-Shea, G. (2005). Longitudinal research in second language acquisition: Recent trends and future directions. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25, 26–45.Google Scholar
Ortega, L., Iwashita, N., Norris, J., & Rabie, S. (2002, October). An investigation of elicited imitation in crosslinguistic SLA research. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Plonsky, L., & Gass, S. (2011). Quantitative research methods, study quality, and outcomes: The case of interaction research. Language Learning, 61, 325–366.Google Scholar
Plonsky, L., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). How big is “big”? Interpreting effect sizes in L2 research. Language Learning, 64, 878–912.Google Scholar
Roberts, L. (2012). Individual differences in second language processing. Language Learning, 62, 172–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, L., & Meyer, A. (2012). Individual differences in second language learning: Introduction. Language Learning, 62, 1–4.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2001). Cognition and second language instruction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2002). Effects of individual differences in intelligence, aptitude and working memory on incidental SLA. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed language learning (pp. 211–251). Philadelphia, PA: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2005). Aptitude and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25, 46–73.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2013). Aptitude in second language acquisition. In Chapelle, C. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 1–5). Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Roehr, K., & Gánem-Gutiérrez, G. A. (2009). The status of metalinguistic knowledge in instructed adult L2 learning. Language Awareness, 18, 165–181.Google Scholar
Sagarra, N. (2000). The longitudinal role of working memory on adult acquisition of L2 grammar. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Sagarra, N. (2008). Working memory and L2 processing of redundant grammatical forms. In Han, Z. (Ed.), Understanding second language process (pp. 133–147). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Sagarra, N. (2013). Working memory in second language acquisition. In Chapelle, C. A. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 1–8). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1286 Google Scholar
Sagarra, N., & Herschensohn, J. (2010). The role of proficiency and working memory in gender and number agreement processing in L1 and L2 Spanish. Lingua, 120, 2022–2039.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. (1997). Experimental tasks in SLA research: Amount of production, modality, memory, and production processes. In Glass, W. R. & Pérez-Lerroux, A. T. (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on the acquisition of Spanish (pp. 41–56). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. (2005). Mind and context in adult second language acquisition. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Sanz, C., Lin, H-J., Lado, B., Bowden, H. W., & Stafford, C. A. (2014). One size fits all? Learning conditions and working memory capacity in Ab initio language development. Applied Linguistics, 1–26. doi:10.1093/applin/amu058 Google Scholar
Sawyer, M., & Ranta, L. (2001). Aptitude, individual differences, and instructional design. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 319–353). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Serafini, E. J. (2013). Cognitive and psychosocial factors in the long-term development of implicit and explicit second language knowledge in adult learners of Spanish at increasing proficiency. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Shiu, L. J., & Spada, N. (2012, August). An empirical validation of elicited imitation as a measure of L2 implicit knowledge. Paper presented at the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) Congress, Beijing, CN.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second-language learning. London, UK: Arnold.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (2002). Theorising and updating aptitude. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed language learning (pp. 69–95). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (2012). Language aptitude. In Gass, S. & Mackey, A. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 381–395). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (1996). The use of acceptability judgments in second language acquisition research. In Ritchie, W. & Bhatia, T. (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 375–409). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Spada, N. (2013). SLA research and L2 pedagogy: Misapplications and questions of relevance. Language Teaching, 48, 69–81.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Y., & DeKeyser, R. (in press). Does Elicited Imitation measure implicit knowledge? Evidence from the word-monitoring task. Language Learning.Google Scholar
Tomita, Y., Suzuki, W., & Jessop, L. (2009). Elicited imitation: Toward valid procedures to measure implicit second language grammatical knowledge. TESOL Quarterly, 43, 345– 350.Google Scholar
Tremblay, A. (2011). Proficiency assessment standards in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 339–372.Google Scholar
Turner, M. L., & Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent? Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 127–154.Google Scholar
Unsworth, N., Heitz, R. P., Schrock, J. C., & Engle, R. W. (2005). An automated version of the operation span task. Behavior Research Methods, 37, 498–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van den Noort, M., Bosch, P., & Hugdahl, K. (2006). Foreign language proficiency and working memory capacity. European Psychologist, 11, 289–296.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2004). Input processing in SLA. In VanPatten, B. (Ed.), Processing instruction: Theory, research, and commentary (pp. 5–31). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (1996). The measurement of verbal working memory capacity and its relation to reading comprehension. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A, 49, 51–79.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—3rd Edition (WAIS-3®) San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Assessment.Google Scholar
Wen, Z. S. (2012). Working memory and second language learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 22, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wen, Z., Mota, M. B., & McNeill, A. (2015). Working memory in second language acquisition and processing. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2012). Working memory and SLA. In Gass, S. & Mackey, A. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 427–441). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N., & Lovatt, P. (2003). Phonological memory and rule learning. Language Learning, 53, 67–121.Google Scholar
Winke, P. (2005). Individual differences in adult Chinese second language acquisition: The relationships among aptitude, memory and strategies for learning (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Zalbidea, J., Faretta-Stutenberg, M., Issa, B., & Bartlett-Hsu, L. (2014, October). Aptitude and L2 development: A longitudinal investigation of classroom learners. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF), Columbia, SC.Google Scholar