Working memory and second language development: A complex, dynamic future?

Working memory (WM) is inherently dynamic and complex, being a multi-faceted system that links storage and processing components; yet it is widely understood as internal. Hence, in second language (L2) research, its connection to complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) remains underspecified. This paper seeks to bridge a gap between CDST and WM in L2 research. First, definitions of WM are reviewed, along with evidence for its relationship to L2 outcomes. Next, a brief overview of CDST highlights its metatheoretical and methodological implications. Three perspectives are presented to illustrate how WM can be viewed in terms of major tenets in CDST. These consider WM effects as: (1) context-dependent, (2) interrelated with those of other variables, and (3) amenable to change across the lifespan. Despite this reappraisal, numerous challenges remain. Thus, in addition to noting research opportunities, the paper also considers measurement issues, such as the determination of boundaries and selection of appropriate timescales. In closing, while WM studies have shown its influence on L2 proficiency and processing, to more fully understand its dynamic nature, what is needed is further research on the reciprocal influences of bilingual development and changes in WM components, such as control of attention

Single top production and decay at next-to-leading order

We present the results of a next-to-leading order analysis of single top production including the decay of the top quark. Radiative effects are included both in the production and decay stages, using a general subtraction method. This calculation gives a good treatment of the jet activity associated with single top production. We perform an analysis of the single top search at the Tevatron, including a consideration of the main backgrounds, many of which are also calculated at next-to-leading order.Comment: 35 pages + 15 figures, revtex

Double Soft Graviton Theorems and BMS Symmetries

It is now well understood that Ward identities associated to the (extended) BMS algebra are equivalent to single soft graviton theorems. In this work, we show that if we consider nested Ward identities constructed out of two BMS charges, a class of double soft factorization theorems can be recovered. By making connections with earlier works in the literature, we argue that at the sub-leading order, these double soft graviton theorems are the so-called consecutive double soft graviton theorems. We also show how these nested Ward identities can be understood as Ward identities associated to BMS symmetries in scattering states defined around (non-Fock) vacua parametrized by supertranslations or superrotations.Comment: 29 pages, minor changes added, footnote 3 removed, consistency check with Ref:22 settle

Editorial

The goal of the special issue is to provide robust examples of how we as a field can research the dynamic nature of learner individual differences (IDs). The papers in this volume provide both a sound theoretical discussion of several IDs in relationship to their (posited or empirically attested) role(s) in L2 learning, as well as specific methodological ideas on how to best reveal the dynamic nature of IDs

Expanding the theoretical base for the dynamics of willingness to communicate

The dynamics underlying willingness to communicate in a second or third language (L2 for short), operating in real time, are affected by a number of intra- and inter-personal processes. L2 communication is a remarkably fluid process, especially considering the wide range of skill levels observed among L2 learners and speakers. Learners often find themselves in a position that requires the use of uncertain L2 skills, be it inside or outside the classroom context. Beyond issues of competencies, which are themselves complex, using an L2 also evokes cultural, political, social, identity, motivational, emotional, pedagogical, and other issues that learners must navigate on-the-fly. The focus of this article will be on the remarkably rapid integration of factors, such as the ones just named whenever a language learner chooses to be a language speaker, that is, when the moment for authentic communication arrives. Communicative events are especially important in understanding the psychology of the L2 learner. Our research group has developed the idiodynamic method to allow examination of an individual’s experience of events on a timescale of a few minutes. Results are describing complex interactions and rapid changes in the psychological conditions that accompany both approaching and avoiding L2 communication. The research takes a new approach to familiar concepts such as motivation, language competence, learning strategies, and so on. By examining willingness to communicate as a dynamic process, new types of research questions and answers are emerging, generating new theory, research methods, and pedagogical approaches applicable both within language classrooms and beyond

Reframing the L2 learning experience as narrative reconstructions of classroom learning

In this study we investigate the situated and dynamic nature of the L2 learning experience through a newly-purposed instrument called the Language Learning Story Interview, adapted from McAdams’ life story interview (2007). Using critical case sampling, data were collected from an equal number of learners of various L2s (e.g., Arabic, English, Mandarin, Spanish) and analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (Rihoux & Ragin, 2009). Through our data analysis, we demonstrate how language learners construct overarching narratives of the L2 learning experience and what the characteristic features and components that make up these narratives are. Our results provide evidence for prototypical nuclear scenes (McAdams et al., 2004) as well as core specifications and parameters of learners’ narrative accounts of the L2 learning experience. We discuss how these shape motivation and language learning behavior

Next-to-leading order corrections to Wt production and decay

We present the results of a next-to-leading order calculation of Wt production, including the decays of both the top quark and the W boson. The effects of radiation in the decay of the top quark are also included. The separation of diagrams which appear in the real corrections, into singly- and doubly-resonant contributions, is performed using a b-jet veto which is motivated by the use of the bottom quark distribution function. We find that, for a choice of scale which is suitable for this approach, the QCD corrections are very mild and only change the cross section by up to 10% at the LHC, depending on the severity of the b-jet veto. When further cuts are applied, applicable for a Higgs boson search in the H->WW channel, we find that the radiative effects greatly decrease the number of background events expected from this process. In addition, the shapes of relevant distributions can be significantly changed at next-to-leading order.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figure

The dynamism of strategic learning: Complexity theory in strategic L2 development

Learners of foreign languages (L2s) apply strategies to support learning processes and L2 development. They select strategies according to their individual needs and preferences and adjust their strategic actions to suit situational circumstances and contextual conditions. A holistic investigation of strategic L2 learning processes requires the integration of numerous interconnected, flexibly-interacting influences, which are at constant interplay with each other and whose development is difficult to predict. Validated as effective in other fields of applied linguistics, complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) can also provide an appropriate frame for researching strategic L2 learning. Based on state-of-the-art methodological guidance for complexity research, this article presents the re-analysis of empirical data from a previous study through a complexity lens. It further examines the suitability of CDST in strategy research, explores its practical value, and demonstrates that a complexity perspective can generate new, profound information about strategic learning

The comovement of credit default swap, bond and stock markets: an empirical analysis

This paper analyzes the empirical relationship between credit default swap, bond and stock markets during the period 2000-2002. Focusing on the intertemporal comovement, we examine weekly and daily lead-lag relationships in a vector autoregressive model and the adjustment between markets caused by cointegration. First, we find that stock returns lead CDS and bond spread changes. Second, CDS spread changes Granger cause bond spread changes for a higher number of firms than vice versa. Third, the CDS market is significantly more sensitive to the stock market than the bond market and the magnitude of this sensitivity increases when credit quality becomes worse. Finally, the CDS market plays a more important role for price discovery than the corporate bond market.Credit risk; Credit spreads; Credit derivatives; Lead-lag relationship