Foreign language learning in the third age: A pilot feasibility study on cognitive, socio-affective and linguistic drivers and benefits in relation to previous bilingualism of the learner

While there is a growing body of research on second language acquisition in children and prime-of-life learners, much remains to be explored about how older adults learn a new language and how good additional language learning is for them (see e.g. Mackey & Sachs, 2012). In this study we present the findings of a longitudinal pilot study in which 12 German-speaking subjects, half of them German-Slovenian bilinguals, between 63 and 90 years of age attended a four-week intensive English course for beginners, and were tested in a pre-/post-test design on a range of linguistic, cognitive, and socio-affective parameters. The results of non-parametric statistical tests and qualitative analyses suggest that: (1) the learning of an additional language in the third age can contribute to healthy and active aging, as it has a positive effect on executive function, (linguistic) self-confidence, autonomy, communicative skills and overall well-being, irrespective of age and prior language knowledge (bilingualism); and (2) age-related social, psychological and contextual factors seem to play as significant a role as strictly maturational factors. Such research promises in due course to inform adult educators about the establishment of relevant third-age learner profiles as well as the design of individualized third-age language training

Is cue-based memory retrieval \u27good-enough\u27?: Agreement, comprehension, and implicit prosody in native and bilingual speakers of English

This dissertation focuses on structural and prosodic effects during reading, examining their influence on agreement processing and comprehension in native English (L1) and Spanish-English bilingual (L2) speakers. I consolidate research from three distinct areas of inquiry\u27cognitive processing models, development of reading fluency, and L1/L2 processing strategies\u27and outline a cohesive and comprehensive processing model that can be applied to speakers regardless of language profile. This model is characterized by three critical components: a cognitive model of memory retrieval, a processing paradigm that outlines how resources may be deployed online, and the role of factors such as prosody in parsing decisions. The general framework of this integrated \u27Good-enough Cue\u27 (GC) model assumes the \u27Good-Enough\u27 Hypothesis and cue-based memory retrieval as central aspects. The \u27Good-Enough\u27 Hypothesis states that all speakers have access to two processing routes: a complete syntactic route, and a \u27good enough\u27 heuristic route (Ferreira, Bailey, & Ferraro, 2002; Ferreira, 2003). In the interest of conserving resources, speakers tend to rely more on heuristics and templates whenever the task allows, and may be required to rely on this fallback route when task demand is high. In the proposed GC model, cue-based memory retrieval (CBMR) is the instantiation of the complete syntactic route for agreement and long-distance dependencies in particular (Lewis & Vasishth, 2005; Wagers, Lau, & Phillips, 2009; Wagers, 2008). When retrieval fails using CBMR (due to cue overlap, memory trace decay, or some other factor), comprehenders may compensate by applying a \u27good-enough\u27 processing heuristic, which prioritizes general comprehension over detailed syntactic computation. Prosody (or implicit prosody) may reduce processing load by either facilitating syntactic processing or otherwise assisting memory retrieval, thus reducing reliance on the good-enough fallback route. This investigation explores how text presentation format interacts with these algorithmic versus heuristic processing strategies. Most specifically, measuring whether the presentation format of text affects readers\u27 comprehension and ability to detect subject-verb agreement errors in simple and complex relative clause constructions. The experimental design manipulated text presentation to influence implicit prosody, using sentences designed to induce subject-verb agreement attraction errors. Materials included simple and embedded relative clauses with head nouns and verbs that were either matched or mismatched for number. Participants read items in one of three presentation formats: a) whole sentence, b) word-by-word, or b) phrase-by-phrase, and rated each item for grammaticality and responded to a comprehension probe. Results indicate that while overall comprehension is typically prioritized over grammatical processing (following the \u27Good-Enough\u27 Hypothesis), the effects of presentation format are differentially influential based on group differences and processing measure. For the L1 participants, facilitating the projection of phrasal prosody (phrase-by-phrase presentation) onto text enhances performance in syntactic and grammatical processing, while disrupting it via a word-by-word presentation decreases comprehension accuracy. For the L2 participants however, phrase-by-phrase presentation is not significantly beneficial for grammatical processing\u27even resulting in a decrease in comprehension accuracy. These differences provide insight into the interaction of cognitive taskload, processing strategy selection, and the role of implicit prosody in reading fluency, building toward a comprehensive processing model for speakers of varying language profiles and proficiencies

The earliest stages of second language learning:a behavioural investigation of long-term memory and age

A study with 40 L1 Italian 8-9 year old children and its replication with 36 L1 Italian adults investigated the role of declarative and procedural learning ability in the early stages of language learning. The studies investigated: (1) the extent to which memory-related abilities predicted L2 learning of form-meaning mapping between syntax and thematic interpretation, word order and case marking; and (2) the nature of the acquired L2 knowledge in terms of the implicit/explicit distinction. Deploying a computer game in incidental instruction conditions, the participants were aurally trained in the artificial language BrocantoJ over three sessions. Standardized memory tasks, vocabulary learning ability, and an alternating serial reaction time task provided measures of visual/verbal declarative and procedural learning ability. Language learning was assessed via a measure of comprehension during practice and a grammaticality judgment test. Generalized mixed-effects models fitted to both experimental datasets revealed that, although adults attained higher accuracy levels and were faster learners compared to children, the two groups did not differ qualitatively in what they learned. However, by the end of the experiment, adults displayed higher explicit knowledge of syntactic and semantic regularities. During practice, declarative learning ability predicted accuracy in both groups, but procedural learning ability significantly increased only in children. The procedural learning ability effect emerged again significantly only in the child grammaticality judgment test dataset. In the practice data declarative learning ability and vocabulary learning ability interacted negatively with procedural learning ability in children, whereas declarative learning ability interacted positively with procedural learning ability in adults. Moreover, the positive interaction in adults only obtained for a subset of practice stimuli, i.e. sentences where the processing of linking between morphosyntax and thematic interpretation was required. Overall, the findings support age-related differences and linguistic target differences in the way abilities related to long-term memory predict language learning

Sleep–related consolidation of new form–meaning mappings: the acquisition of arbitrary and systematic mappings in adult language learning.

Six experiments investigated the role of sleep-related memory consolidation in learning new words (e.g. tib bisesh = queen). We tested the predictions of the Complementary Learning Systems model (CLS; McClelland et al., 1995) that sleep-related consolidation varies with arbitrariness in the form-meaning mapping. New determiners (tib, ked) and suffixes ( -esh, -ool) systematically mapped on to the referents' natural gender. Stem-meaning mappings (e.g. bis- = queen, jor- = cowboy) were arbitrary, as the meaning of the stem could not be predicted from its phonology. In Experiments 1 and 2 there was one determiner and two suffixes per gender (tib = female, ked = male; -esh, -eem = female, -ool, -aff = male). In Experiment 2 overnight polysomnography data was collected, to correlate slow wave sleep (SWS) with arbitrary mapping recall. In Experiments 3 and 4, there were two determiners and one suffix per gender (tib, paz = female, ked, jov = male; -eem = female, -ool = male). In Experiments 5 and 6, the systematic mapping included the suffixes only (without determiners), and the number of exemplars was increased in Experiment 6. The memory for the arbitrary mappings was tested in recall and recognition tasks. The knowledge of the systematic mappings was tested in generalisation tasks. As an exploratory investigation of Ullman's Declarative/ Procedural model (e.g. Ullman, 2001) we also correlated measures of arbitrary and systematic mappings with a declarative and a procedural task. As predicted by the CLS, there was evidence to suggest that sleep was beneficial for the memory of the arbitrary mappings, but not for the systematic mappings. Determiners required full systematicity to be extracted. Suffixes required increased exemplar variability and no determiners present to be extracted. The findings will be discussed in the context of models of memory consolidation in word learning