An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena : a commentary on Ambridge (2020)

The authors argue that Ambridge’s radical exemplar account of language cannot clearly explain all syntactic priming evidence, such as inverse preference effects (greater priming for less frequent structures), and the contrast between short-lived lexical boost and long-lived abstract priming. Moreover, without recourse to a level of abstract syntactic structure, Ambridge’s account cannot explain abstract priming in amnesia patients or cross-linguistic priming. Instead, the authors argue that abstract representations remain the more parsimonious account for the wide variety of syntactic priming phenomena

An exploration of second language learning via syntactic priming

This dissertation investigates the psycholinguistic mechanisms supporting and the factors influencing second language (L2) learning via syntactic priming, speakers’ tendency to re-use the syntactic structure of recent sentences in subsequent language production. One set of studies explores the mechanisms that support priming as L2 learning. Chapter 2 tests the predictions of two influential psycholinguistic language learning models of syntactic priming. Although the results do not clearly favour one of the two models, they indicate that priming fosters L2 long-term learning and that explicit processes may contribute to this learning. Chapters 3-5 explore how individual differences in attention and motivation influence syntactic priming. Overall, self-reported attention and motivation do not relate to L2 priming and learning but instructing participants to pay attention to the syntax of stimuli specifically seems to increase immediate priming. Chapter 4 also reveals that priming magnitude is affected by the frequency with which the target structure is used across modalities (in written vs. spoken language), but long-term language learning can arise both from written and spoken prime sentences. Two further studies extended these investigations to more naturalistic contexts. Chapter 6 was designed to investigate classroom-based priming and learning across teaching settings and depending on students’ attention and motivation. Based on the current (incomplete) results, it remains unclear whether priming varies between teacher-to-students and student-to-student, and between comprehension-to-production and production-to-production priming conditions. Data completion is required to explore the effect of individual differences in this study. Chapter 7 examines learning via syntactic priming of multiple simultaneouslytargeted structures depending on L2 speakers’ conscious decisions to use or avoid them and on their prior knowledge. This study shows that in written chat-based interactions, learners do experience equivalent priming and learning for multiple structures. Prior knowledge and decisions do not affect immediate and long-term priming, but they modulate structure production. Specifically, the results suggest that participants overall produce more the structures that they are the most familiar with and that they choose to use. This thesis demonstrates that syntactic priming supports language learning for multiple structures, across language combinations and priming contexts. As it investigated the nature of L2 learning via syntactic priming and the factors influencing this learning, it has both psycholinguistic and pedagogical implications. The studies reveal that priming, learning and overall structure production during priming tasks rely on both explicit and implicit processes. They also shed light on how to best implement priming activities to facilitate language learning. For example, priming fosters learning regardless of the modality of the interaction and this learning is larger when the priming task targets only one structure at a time

Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory

Studies involving direct language imitation tasks have shown that pronunciation ability is related to musical competence and working memory capacities. However, this type of task may measure individual differences in many different linguistic dimensions, other than just phonetic ones. The present study uses an indirect imitation task by asking participants to a fake a foreign accent in order to specifically target individual differences in phonetic abilities. Its aim is to investigate whether musical expertise and working memory capacities relate to phonological awareness (i.e., participants’ implicit knowledge about the phonological system of the target language and its structural properties at the segmental, suprasegmental, and phonotactic levels) as measured on this task. To this end, French native listeners (N = 36) graded how well German native imitators (N = 25) faked a French accent while speaking in German. The imitators also performed a musicality test, a self-assessment of their singing abilities and working memory tasks. The results indicate that the ability to fake a French accent correlates with singing ability and musical perceptual abilities, but not with working memory capacities. This suggests that heightened musical abilities may lead to an increased phonological awareness probably by providing participants with highly efficient memorization strategies and highly accurate long-term phonetic representations of foreign sounds. Comparison with data of previous studies shows that working memory could be implicated in the pronunciation learning process which direct imitation tasks target, whereas musical expertise influences both storing of knowledge and later retrieval here assessed via an indirect imitation task

Accuracy and fluency teaching and the role of extramural English : a tale of three countries

European learners of English are increasingly using this language recreationally, which is referred to as Extramural English (henceforth EE). The level of EE use in a given country might be reflected in English Language Teaching (ELT) practices. Yet, no research so far has examined cross-nationally what potential for language learning teachers perceive in their learners’ EE engagement and how this relates to ELT practices. To address this gap, the present study draws on interview data from lower secondary English teachers from Austria, France, and Sweden (n = 20). They were enquired about (1) their students’ EE engagement and its effects on learning, (2) their accuracy and fluency teaching methods, and (3) the perceived link between EE and ELT. Swedish teachers seemed to have a more positive and fine-grained conceptualization of the impact of EE on learning than Austrian and French participants, especially in terms of grammar acquisition. The implicit learning environment that Swedish students encounter extramurally might extend to the classroom, where the use of explicit grammar rules occurs less dominantly than in the Austrian and French samples. The countries converged in the type of fluency-based instruction they reported. Gaps in language areas not (fully) developed through EE seem to be more intentionally addressed in ELT in Sweden

The Role of Explicit Memory Across Second Language Syntactic Development : A Structural Priming Study

We tested whether second language (L2) learners rely more on explicit memory during structural priming at lower than at higher proficiency levels (Hartsuiker & Bernolet, 2017). We compared within-L2 priming with lexical overlap in 100 low and 100 high proficiency French L2 speakers under low versus high working memory load conditions induced with a letter series recall task presented between primes and targets. The high load condition would prevent explicit recall of primes during target production. Both groups primed more under low than high load. The effect of load was similar across groups, but exploratory analyses with proficiency as a continuous variable suggested that, with increasing proficiency, participants primed less under high load. We discuss how these findings support the idea that learners exploit explicit memory more during priming in early versus later stages of acquisition. Overall, this study showed that explicit memory influences syntactic processing across the L2 learning trajectory

The Contribution of Music Abilities and Phonetic Aptitude to L2 Accent Faking Ability

This study examined how second language (L2) speakers’ individual differences in music perception abilities, singing abilities and phonetic aptitude relate to their L2 phonological awareness. To measure participants’ L2 phonological awareness, we used an accent faking paradigm, where participants were asked to speak in their native language (German) while imitating a strong L2 accent (English). We measured their musical abilities with the AMMA test and their singing abilities with two singing tasks and a self-report questionnaire. Their phonetic aptitude was assessed with a combination of phonological short-term memory tasks (forward and backward digit span tasks), and language perception and production tasks, in which participants needed to process and imitate sounds from unfamiliar languages. A regression analysis revealed that singing abilities and phonetic aptitude could predict participants’ English faking abilities. This suggests that being able to sing could help learners produce and memorise highly accurate L2 sounds, although their performance could also partly be explained by innate learning capacities such as phonetic aptitude. This study also proposes a new combination of tests to obtain a well-rounded assessment of individual differences in phonetic aptitude

The effect of accent and input modality when processing language switches in bilingual language comprehension

Three experiments examining comprehension of language switches in Mandarin-English bilinguals

Learning multiple L2 syntactic structures via chat-based alignment : what is the role of learners’ prior knowledge and conscious decisions?

This study investigated whether written chat-based activities foster alignment and learning of multiple simultaneously-targeted second language (L2) syntactic structures. It further examined how these were affected by prior knowledge of the targeted structures and learners’ decisions to use or avoid each structure. We tested 47 Spanish first language (L1) speakers learning L2 English. In a chat-based activity with an L1 English speaker, we examined alignment in the production of three target structures that differed in their likely familiarity for participants (genitives, passives and datives) by comparing target structure production after prime versus baseline sentences. We also compared target structure production in a post-test relative to a pre-test to assess learning (increased structure usage) and we asked participants whether they made conscious decisions to use or avoid the structures. The learners experienced chat- based alignment and learning across structures. Although prior knowledge and decisions did not significantly affect alignment and learning, more prior knowledge and choosing to use the targeted structures increased overall target structure production. Thus, chat-based activities are well-suited to support L2 grammar learning, even when they embed multiple structures. However, instructors may need to encourage learners to explicitly use the targeted structures to maximize alignment tasks’ language learning outcomes

Second language accent faking ability depends on musical abilities, not on working memory

Studies involving direct language imitation tasks have shown that pronunciation ability is related to musical competence and working memory capacities. However, this type of task may measure individual differences in many different linguistic dimensions, other than just phonetic ones. The present study uses an indirect imitation task by asking participants to a fake a foreign accent in order to specifically target individual differences in phonetic abilities. Its aim is to investigate whether musical expertise and working memory capacities relate to phonological awareness (i.e., participants’ implicit knowledge about the phonological system of the target language and its structural properties at the segmental, suprasegmental, and phonotactic levels) as measured on this task. To this end, French native listeners (N = 36) graded how well German native imitators (N = 25) faked a French accent while speaking in German. The imitators also performed a musicality test, a self-assessment of their singing abilities and working memory tasks. The results indicate that the ability to fake a French accent correlates with singing ability and musical perceptual abilities, but not with working memory capacities. This suggests that heightened musical abilities may lead to an increased phonological awareness probably by providing participants with highly efficient memorization strategies and highly accurate long-term phonetic representations of foreign sounds. Comparison with data of previous studies shows that working memory could be implicated in the pronunciation learning process which direct imitation tasks target, whereas musical expertise influences both storing of knowledge and later retrieval here assessed via an indirect imitation task