We present a learner corpus-based study of English article use (“a”/“the”/Ø) by L2 learners with four typologically distinct first languages (L1s): German and Brazilian Portuguese (both have articles), Chinese and Russian (no articles). We investigate several semantic and morphosyntactic factors—for example, specificity, prenominal modification that can affect article use. Our analysis of 660 written scripts from the Education First Cambridge Open Database confirms the lower overall accuracy of learners with no-article L1s. Our main finding is the differential effect of specificity on definite and indefinite articles: learners tend to associate specificity with “a,” which implies article omission with nonspecific indefinite singulars and overuse of “a” with specific indefinite mass nouns. Prenominal modifiers further contribute to perceived specificity, leading to article overuse with modified indefinite mass nouns. However, in definite contexts, prenominal modifiers are associated with increased article omission.

The present study revisits the differential roles of form, meaning, and use aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge in L2 listening proficiency. A total of 126 Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language listeners completed the TOEIC Listening test, working memory and auditory processing tests, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, and several tasks designed to tap into three broad aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge: (1) the ability to access phonological forms without any orthographic cues (phonologization), (2) the ability to recognize words regardless of the talker (generalization), and (3) the ability to determine the semantic and collocational appropriateness of words in global contexts in a fast and stable manner (automatization). Whereas the perceptual, cognitive, and metacognitive variables made relatively small contributions to L2 listening proficiency (0.4%–21.3%), the vocabulary factors explained a large amount of the variance (77.6%) in the full regression model (R2 = .507). These large lexical effects uniquely derived from the three different aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge—automatization (55.3%), phonologization (20.8%), and generalization (1.5%). The findings suggest that successful L2 listening skill acquisition draws on not only various levels of phonological form-meaning mapping (phonologization, generalization) but also the spontaneous and robust retrieval of such vocabulary knowledge in relation to surrounding words (automatization).

To test the contributions of processing to L2 syntax learning, this study explores (cross-) linguistic and cognitive predictors of sentence reanalysis in the L2 comprehension of relative clauses among low-intermediate L1 German adolescent learners of L2 English. Specifically, we test the degree to which L2 comprehension is affected by L2 proficiency, reanalysis ability in a related, earlier-acquired L2 structure (questions), reanalysis ability of relative clauses in the L1, cognitive control, and cognitive capacity. In visual-world eye-tracking experiments, 141 adolescent German-speaking L2 learners of English selected target pictures for auditorily presented questions and relative clauses in the L1 and in the L2. The results showed a strong subject preference for L2 relative clauses. Learners’ L2 proficiency and their processing of object questions in the L2 predicted reanalysis for object relatives in eye movements, reaction times, and comprehension accuracy. In contrast, there was no evidence that cognitive control or working memory systematically affected the processing of object relatives. These findings suggest that linguistic processing outweighs cognitive processing in accounting for individual differences in low-intermediate L2 acquisition of complex grammar. Specifically, learners recruit shared processing mechanisms and routines across grammatical structures to pave a way in the acquisition of syntax.

This study presents a reanalysis of existing data to investigate whether a relationship between perception and production abilities regarding a challenging second-language (L2) phonological contrast is observable (a) when both modalities must rely on accessing stored lexical representations and (b) when there is an asymmetry in task focus between perception and production. In the original studies, German learners of English were tested on their mastery of the English /ɛ/-/æ/ contrast in an auditory lexical decision task with phonological substitutions, a word-reading task, and a segmentally focused imitation task. Results showed that accurate nonword rejection in the lexical decision task was predicted by the Euclidean distance between the two vowels in word reading but not in imitation. These results extend previous findings to lexical perception and production, highlight the influence of task focus on the degree of coupling between the two modalities, and may have important implications for pronunciation training methods.

Second language (L2) research on input manipulation has focused mainly on increasing the salience of target structures, but presentation formats of L2 input can be another important aspect for manipulation. This study compared the horizontal, vertical, and adjacent formats for presenting the characters, pinyin, and English meaning of L2 Chinese vocabulary, by recruiting 69 English native speakers to study 30 Chinese words in these formats. Learning outcomes were indexed with vocabulary gain scores from pretest to posttest. Learner perceptions of the learning process were recorded with ratings and reasons for preference among these formats. The quantitative results showed the adjacent format generally led to higher gain scores than the other two formats and that L2 proficiency also contributed positively. To learners, the adjacent format was the least preferred, but preference ratings were not associated with gain scores. The qualitative findings suggested format familiarity and layout features as main factors of learner preference.

Research has indicated that lexical richness is an important indicator of second language (L2) proficiency. However, most research has examined written, cross-sectional English L2 corpora and does not necessarily indicate how spoken lexical use develops over time or whether observed trends are stable across L2s. This study adds to previous research on the development of spoken vocabulary by investigating lexical features of L2 Spanish learners over a 21-month period, using the LANGSNAP corpus. Multiple lexical richness indices used in previous studies were examined including lexical diversity, word frequency, word concreteness, and bigram strength of association. Linear mixed-effects models were run to examine changes over time. The results suggest that although some features of lexical richness (e.g., word frequency) see meaningful change over time, others (e.g., bigram T score) may not be indicative of L2 oral development.

This study explored the effect of speaking task on midclause pausing characteristics in the L1 and L2 speech of the same speakers to gain further insights into the potential relationship between pause location and stages of speech production. Participants included English L1 learners of L2 French (n = 29) or Spanish (n = 27) from the publicly available, longitudinal LANGSNAP corpus. Participants completed two oral tasks in their L1 and L2: a picture-based narrative and a semistructured interview. The rate, duration, and proportion of midclause pauses were compared between tasks in the L1 as well as in the L2 before and during residence abroad. In the L1, results indicated more fluent performance in the narrative task except for rate. When speaking in their L2, participants showed improvement on each measure in the narrative task but ultimately remained less fluent in their L2 in comparison to their L1. In the interview task, the only measure of midclause pausing that consistently differentiated L1 from L2 speech was midclause pause rate. The findings call for a nuanced interpretation of connections between midclause pausing and formulation and suggest that midclause pause rate is least influenced by speaking task.

This study examined the independent effects of working memory (WM) and the interactive effects of WM/L2 proficiency and WM/task complexity on L2 written performance. The study followed a within–between-participant factorial design, with two levels of task complexity as the within-participant variable and L2 proficiency and WM as between-participants variables. The outcome measure was L2 writing performance as measured by CAF indices. Two groups of undergraduate students from a degree in English studies were invited to complete the simple and complex version of the “Fire-Chief” task. Task complexity was operationalized in terms of reasoning demands, and tasks were counterbalanced to avoid unwanted order effects. Participants also completed the Oxford Placement Test and a working memory test (n-back). Regarding independent effects, results show that WM did not have an effect on L2 writing performance. In contrast, L2 proficiency was the variable most connected to various dimensions of the text produced. As for interactive effects, no significant interaction between WM, proficiency, or task complexity was found. In contrast, L2 proficiency emerged as the sole significant predictor of L2 writing performance at both levels of task complexity.

This study examined the extent to which L2 writers with varied working memory display differential pausing and revision behaviors at different periods during writing. The participants were 30 advanced Chinese L2 users of English, who wrote an argumentative essay. While composing, participants’ keystrokes and eye-gaze movements were recorded to capture their pausing, revision, and eye-gaze behaviors. The working memory battery included tests of phonological and visual short-term memory and executive functions. We divided the writing process into five equal periods. The results revealed that participants’ pausing and revision patterns were consistent with previous findings that planning, linguistic encoding, and monitoring processes dominate the initial, middle, and later composing periods, respectively. Various working memory components had differential effects on pausing depending on period, largely reflecting the predictions of Kellogg’s (1996, 2001) model. However, we identified no differences in the temporal distribution of revision behaviors contingent on working memory.

This article revisits the role of cognitive individual differences in creating synergies between second language (L2) writing and second language acquisition research that were proposed by Kormos (2012). It takes stock of the advances in research findings, in the past decade, on the role of working memory and language learning aptitude in L2 writing processes and performance. The article offers an overview of how cognitive factors can mediate learning gains when L2 users engage in writing. Using theoretical accounts of cognitive individual differences, the article discusses how the characteristics of writing tasks can interact with individual variation in cognitive functioning. The article concludes by proposing a Task-Mediated Cognitive Model of L2 Writing and Writing to Learn that describes the role of cognitive factors in L2 writing processes and in learning through writing, and an outline of a research agenda for future studies.

The congruency effect—that is, faster and more accurate processing of congruent multiword units, has been demonstrated in multiple studies. It is still unclear, however, what its underlying mechanism is, and how congruency may interact with other factors. Using an acceptability judgement task, this study examined the congruency effect in immersive (Experiment 1) and nonimmersive (Experiment 2) L2 learners’ collocational processing while taking into account L2 collocation frequency, immersive learners’ L2 use, their length and starting age of immersion, nonimmersive learners’ length of instruction, and their L2 proficiency. The study also tested whether L1 counterparts of words in L2 collocations were activated. Nonmmersive learners showed a congruency effect in both processing speed and accuracy. In contrast, immersive learners were affected by congruency only in processing accuracy. Higher L2 collocation frequency, greater length of instruction, and higher L2 proficiency did not reduce the congruency effect, whereas longer duration of immersion improved the processing of incongruent items. An effect of L1 lexical frequency was found, an indication of L1 activation. Results were discussed in light of how L2 proficiency and experiences changed the amount of L1 influence in L2 collocational processing.

Globally classrooms are increasingly linguistically diverse. Research often oversimplifies lived linguistic heterogeneity as binary variables: native versus non-native. Linguistic distance (LD) measures allow a fine-grained operationalization of linguistic diversity in foreign language education. This study investigated associations of cognate LDs of students’ home languages and classroom heterogeneity with English as a Foreign Language skills. Data were collected from a diverse sample of 5,130 Year 5 students in Germany. Mixed-effects linear models confirmed our hypotheses that higher individual LDs and a higher proportion of multilingual learners per classroom were both independently associated with lower English proficiency. Multilingual learners with higher cognate LDs to English and students in more linguistically heterogeneous classrooms had lower English proficiency. The results emphasize the need to assess LD in research to better differentiate between students. Foreign language classrooms seem not to address linguistic diversity adequately and need to readjust their focus to better meet multilingual learners’ needs.

A slowdown or a speedup in response times across experimental conditions can be taken as evidence of online deployment of knowledge. However, response-time difference measures are rarely evaluated on their reliability, and there is no standard practice to estimate it. In this article, we used three open data sets to explore an approach to reliability that is based on mixed-effects modeling and to examine model criticism as an outlier treatment strategy. The results suggest that the model-based approach can be superior but show no clear advantage of model criticism. We followed up these results with a simulation study to identify the specific conditions in which the model-based approach has the most benefits. Researchers who cannot include a large number of items and have a moderate level of noise in their data may find this approach particularly useful. We concluded by calling for more awareness and research on the psychometric properties of measures in the field.

The study examined how learners’ motivational dispositions predict the complexity, accuracy, fluency of their oral task performance and their overall second language proficiency. Eighty-one speakers of English as a second language in the United States completed a regulatory focus and a regulatory mode questionnaire, an oral interview task, and a picture description task. Regression analyses showed a meaningful pattern of results. The assessment mode (concerned with analysis, evaluation, and comparison) contributed to syntactic and lexical complexity, the reduction of dysfluencies, and overall English proficiency, whereas the locomotion mode (concerned with acting without deliberation) positively predicted the speed measure of fluency and the total number of errors. The prevention focus (concerned with stability, security, and safety) negatively predicted lexical sophistication, whereas the promotion focus (concerned with advancement, accomplishments, and growth) predicted overall English proficiency. Theoretical and instructional implications were discussed.

Research on intelligibility in international encounters has long focused on issues of pronunciation to the detriment of factors such as linguistic co-text and extralinguistic context, which are comparatively well-studied variables in intelligibility research concerning L1 listeners. This paper seeks to expand the scope of international intelligibility research in this respect by reporting on a large-scale study involving 423 nonnative listeners at different proficiency levels, who transcribed words spoken with another nonnative accent under four conditions that varied in the availability of syntactic, semantic, and schematic cues. The results suggest that co-text and context as well as listening proficiency are crucial variables that ought to receive greater attention in research on international intelligibility. The pedagogical implications of these findings are addressed as well.

The study investigates whether comprehension of derived words in text context requires a complete understanding of word parts. It explores comprehension of derived words as a function of learner proficiency and contextual clues. Ninety English-as-a-foreign-language learners at three proficiency levels participated in three successive tests representing three clues conditions, absence of clues, availability of syntactic clues, and availability of syntactic and semantic clues. They had to supply the meaning of 22 derived pseudowords constructed with nonword stems and 22 frequent affixes—for example, stacement, gummful. The meanings of the nonword stems were provided. Test scores were compared by 3 (proficiency level) × 3 (clue condition) analysis of variance with repeated measures. The results showed effects of both variables, proficiency and clues. The largest increase in comprehension scores occurred with the addition of syntactic clues. The results imply that derived forms of familiar base words can be understood even when learners’ receptive morphological knowledge is not complete.

This study is the first to investigate subject-level variability in sociolinguistic evaluative judgements by 30 adult L2 German learners and explore whether the observed variability is characterizable as a function of individual differences in proficiency, exposure, and motivation. Because group-level estimates did not paint an accurate picture of the individual, we propose methods capable of integrating population-level estimates with person- and ensemble-centered approaches so as to reconcile generalizability and individuality. Using random effects from Bayesian mixed-effects models, we found that global subject-level variability in evaluative judgements was not predicted by individual differences. By building homogeneous ensembles (i.e., subgroups of individuals with similar evaluative judgements), however, it was possible to assess whether ensembles were characteristic of certain levels of individual differences. This ensemble-centered approach presents an innovative way to address the group-to-individual generalizability issue in cross-sectional data and transcend individual variability in order to make tentative generalizations of individual cases to wider populations.

Personality has been identified as a possible antecedent to emotions experienced in the foreign language (FL) classroom. However, contrasting results and differing personality models have resulted in ambiguous findings. This study set out to delve deeper into the role of personality as a predictor of FL emotions through a series of increasingly restrictive statistical models on a sample of n = 246 FL learners. The relationships between personality—operationalized as global and lower order factors in the five factor model—and the FL emotions of Foreign Language Enjoyment, Anxiety, and Boredom were examined. The global factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, and the lower order factors of Trust, Dutifulness, and Cheerfulness were significant predictors of FL emotions. However, the complexity of personality as a predictor variable is demonstrated in the intricacy of the results and as such the inclusion of personality in explanatory models of FL emotions ought to be approached with caution.

A handful of second/foreign language (L2) studies have examined the effects of practice schedules and reported the advantage of interleaved practice (i.e., practice multiple skills simultaneously) over blocked practice (i.e., practice one skill first and then proceed to the next one). However, no studies in the realm of L2 pragmatics have explored this theme. This study investigated the influence of interleaved corpus-based practice and blocked corpus-based practice on L2 pragmatic development. Sixty-three L2 learners of English from a university in China received instruction on two pragmatic features: suggestions and requests. After the instruction, they were randomly assigned to an interleaved-practice group (n = 31) or a blocked-practice group (n = 32). Results from multimedia discourse completion tasks on the immediate and delayed posttests showed facilitative and long-term effects of interleaved practice on pragmatic accuracy. Moreover, the results revealed positive and durable influence of blocked practice on fluency. Implications are discussed.