I’m Doing Better on My Own: Social Inhibition in Vocabulary Learning in Adults

Published: 05 June 2019Vocabulary learning is better achieved by children facing a teacher than when presented to the same teacher through video (so-called “video deficit” effect), which has significant implications for toddlers’ education. Since millions of adults also learn new vocabulary when acquiring a second language (L2), it is important to explore whether adults suffer from “video deficit” effects, as children do. In the present study, we report two experiments in which Spanish native late learners of English were involved in a vocabulary learning task. In Experiment 1, participants had to learn English (L2) labels associated to real objects. In Experiment 2, participants had to learn English (L2) and Spanish (L1) labels associated to novel objects. In both experiments, vocabulary learning was divided into three conditions: In the NoFace condition, participants were presented with the objects and their auditory labels, through video. In the Video condition, a teacher was showing the objects and uttering their names, through video. The Live condition was equivalent, except that the teacher was facing the participants in the room. Each condition was followed by a recall test. Better learning in Video compared to NoFace condition revealed that adults benefit from the teacher’s display with direct gaze, confirming the fundamental role of face display with direct gaze in social communication in adults. Interestingly, adults learned better through Video than in the Live condition. Those results were obtained in L2 vocabulary learning in both Experiments 1 and 2, and also generalized to native language in Experiment 2. We argue that adults suffer from social inhibition, meaning that they perform worse when in the presence of another person during task performance. In sum, we show that video-mediated teaching might not be detrimental for adults learning new vocabulary lists, as it is the case for young children. These results might have important implications for pedagogical programs targeting adults’ second language vocabulary learning, since proper acquisition of vocabulary list can be achieved through video including a teacher’s display.This research was funded by a grant from the FP7/2007–2013 Cooperation grant agreement 613465-AThEME, an ERC grant from the European Research Council (ERC-2011-ADG-295362), grants from the Spanish Government (PSI2014-54500, PSI2015-65694, and PSI2017-82941-P), and from the Basque Government (PI_2015_1_25 and PIBA18_29)

Language control in bilingual production: Insights from error rate and error type in sentence production

First published online: 16 October 2020Most research showing that cognates are named faster than non-cognates has focused on isolated word production which might not realistically reflect cognitive demands in sentence production. Here, we explored whether cognates elicit interference by examining error rates during sentence production, and how this interference is resolved by language control mechanisms. Twenty highly proficient Spanish–English bilinguals described visual scenes with sentence structures ‘NP1-verb-NP2’ (NP = noun-phrase). Half the nouns and half the verbs were cognates and two manipulations created high control demands. Both situations that demanded higher inhibitory control pushed the cognate effect from facilitation towards interference. These findings suggest that cognates, similar to phonologically similar words within a language, can induce not only facilitation but robust interference.We thank Michael Freund and Nicholas McCloskey for their help with data collection. This work was supported in part by the Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience Fund endowed to the Cognitive Neurology division of the Neurology Department at Johns Hopkins University. C.D. Martin was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SEV-2015-490; PSI2017-82941-P; Europa-Excelencia ERC2018-092833), the Basque Government (PIBA18-29), and the European Research Council (ERC-2018-COG-819093). N. Nozari was also supported by a NSF grant (NSF BCS-1949631)

Orthography affects L1 and L2 speech perception but not production in early bilinguals

First published online: 25 August 2021Orthography plays a crucial role in L2 learning, which generally relies on both oral and written input. We examine whether incongruencies between L1 and L2 grapheme-phoneme correspondences influence bilingual speech perception and production, even when both languages have been acquired in early childhood before reading acquisition. Spanish–Basque and Basque–Spanish early bilinguals performed an auditory lexical decision task including Basque pseudowords created by replacing Basque /s̻/ with Spanish /θ/. These distinct phonemes take the same orthographic form, . Participants also completed reading-aloud tasks in Basque and Spanish to test whether speech sounds with the same orthographic form were produced similarly in the two languages. Results for both groups showed orthography had strong effects on speech perception but no effects on speech production. Taken together, these findings suggest that orthography plays a crucial role in the speech system of early bilinguals but does not automatically lead to non-native production.This work was supported by the Basque Government [BERC 2018–2021 program]; the Spanish State Research Agency [BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation SEV-2015-0490]; the H2020 European Research Council [Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant 843533; ERC Consolidator Grant ERC-2018-COG-819093]; the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [PSI2017-82941-P; Europa-Excelencia ERC2018-092833; RED2018-102615-T]; and the Basque Government [PIBA18-29]

The impact of orthographic forms on speech production and perception: An artificial vowel-learning study

Available online 23 August 2022This study investigates the effect of orthographic forms on phonetic aspects of isolated speech sound production and perception. Three groups of 25 L1-Spanish speakers were exposed to /y/ and /e/ in a multi-session learning study. They heard the same vowels presented with: L1-incongruent orthographic forms, novel orthographic forms, or without orthographic forms. After three exposure sessions, participants were tested on vowel production in an elicited production task and vowel perception in a multiple forced choice task. All groups established new /y/ and / e/ production and perception categories. Incongruent orthographic forms led to less target-like category positions for /y/ but not /e/ in production and perception. Novel orthographic forms only facilitated more target-like perception for /y/. In a fourth session, Auditory-only participants were exposed to incongruent orthography for /y/ and novel orthography for /e/. Sequential exposure to incongruent orthography caused less target-like production and perception category positions, while sequential exposure to novel orthography altered neither. Together these results suggest that orthographic forms affect isolated speech sounds and are encoded at the speech sound level. Incongruent grapheme-to-phoneme mappings from L1 to later-learned languages may critically affect the phonetic characteristics of non-native speech sounds, but learning outcomes depend on specific L1-L2 category contrasts.This work was supported by institutional grants from the Basque Government [BERC 2018–2021 program] and the Spanish State Research Agency [BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation CEX2020-001010-S] awarded to the BCBL. This project has also received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation program (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 843533 awarded to AS); the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 819093 to CDM); the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [PSI2017-82941-P; Europa-Excelencia ERC2018-092833; RED2018-102615-T (all CDM)]; and the Basque Government [PIBA18-29 (CDM)]

Gepo with a G, or Jepo with a J? Skilled Readers Generate Orthographic Expectations for Novel Spoken Words Even When Spelling is Uncertain

First published: 18 March 2022English-speaking children and adults generate orthographic skeletons (i.e., preliminary orthographic representations) solely from aural exposure to novel words. The present study examined whether skilled readers generate orthographic skeletons for all novel words they learn or do so only when the words have a unique possible spelling. To that end, 48 Spanish adults first provided their preferred spellings for all novel words that were to appear in the experiment. Critically, consistent words had only one, while inconsistent words had two possible spellings. Two weeks later, they were trained on the pronunciations of the novel words through aural instruction. They then saw the spellings of these newly acquired words, along with a set of untrained words, in a self-paced sentence reading task. Participants read previously acquired consistent and inconsistent words presented in their preferred spellings faster than inconsistent words with unpreferred spellings. Importantly, no differences were observed in reading untrained consistent and inconsistent words (either preferred or unpreferred). This suggests that participants had generated orthographic skeletons for trained words with two possible spellings according to their individual spelling preferences. These findings provide further evidence for the orthographic skeleton account and show that initial orthographic representations are generated even when the spelling of a newly acquired word is uncertain.This research was supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022-2025 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation CEX2020-001010-S. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No: 819093 to CDM), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2020-113926GB-I00; PSI2017-82941-P to CDM) and the Basque Government (PIBA18_29 to CDM). The first author was supported by a predoctoral fellowship (associated with the project PSI2017 82941-P; Grant No: PRE-2018-083946) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Fondo Social Europeo

Déjà-lu: When Orthographic Representations are Generated in the Absence of Orthography

Published on 12 Jan 2023When acquiring novel spoken words, English-speaking children generate preliminary orthographic representations even before seeing the words’ spellings (Wegener et al., 2018). Interestingly, these orthographic skeletons are generated even when novel words’ spellings are uncertain, at least in transparent languages like Spanish (Jevtović et al., 2022). Here we investigate whether this process depends on the orthographic rules of the language, and specifically, whether orthographic skeletons for words with uncertain spellings are generated even when the probability of generating an incorrect representation is high. Forty-six French adults first acquired novel words via aural instruction and were then presented with words’ spellings in a self-paced reading task. Importantly, novel words were presented in their unique (consistent words) or one of their two possible spellings (preferred and unpreferred inconsistent words). A significant reading advantage observed for aurally acquired words indicates that participants indeed generated orthographic representations before encountering novel words’ spellings. However, while no differences in reading times were found for aurally acquired words with unique and those presented in their preferred spellings, unpreferred spellings yielded significantly longer reading times. This shows that orthographic skeletons for words with multiple spellings were generated even in a language in which the risk of generating an incorrect representation is high. This finding raises a possibility that generating orthographic skeletons during spoken word learning may be beneficial. In line with this conclusion is the finding showing that – in interaction with good phonological short-term memory capacity – generating orthographic skeletons is linked to better word recall.This research was supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022–2025 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation CEX2020-001010-S. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No: 819093 to CDM), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2020-113926GB-I00; PSI2017-82941-P to CDM) and the Basque Government (PIBA18_29 to CDM). The first author was supported by a predoctoral fellowship (associated with the project PSI2017 82941-P; Grant No: PRE-2018-083946) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Fondo Social Europeo

The Acoustic Features and Didactic Function of Foreigner-Directed Speech: A Scoping Review

Published online: Aug 1, 2022Purpose: This scoping review considers the acoustic features of a clear speech register directed to nonnative listeners known as foreigner-directed speech (FDS). We identify vowel hyperarticulation and low speech rate as the most representative acoustic features of FDS; other features, including wide pitch range and high intensity, are still under debate. We also discuss factors that may influence the outcomes and characteristics of FDS. We start by examining accommodation theories, outlining the reasons why FDS is likely to serve a didactic function by helping listeners acquire a second language (L2). We examine how this speech register adapts to listeners’ identities and linguistic needs, suggesting that FDS also takes listeners’ L2 proficiency into account. To confirm the didactic function of FDS, we compare it to other clear speech registers, specifically infant-directed speech and Lombard speech. Conclusions: Our review reveals that research has not yet established whether FDS succeeds as a didactic tool that supports L2 acquisition. Moreover, a complex set of factors determines specific realizations of FDS, which need further exploration. We conclude by summarizing open questions and indicating directions and recommendations for future research.This research was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship (LCF/BQ/DI19/11730045) from “La Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) awarded to Giorgio Piazza and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship (RYC2018-024284-I) awarded to Marina Kalashnikova. This research was supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022-2025 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation CEX2020-001010-S. This research was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2020-113926GB-I00 awarded to Clara D. Martin) and by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement 819093 awarded to Clara D. Martin)

Phonetic accommodation in non‑native directed speech supports L2 word learning and pronunciation

Published: 02 December 2023This study assessed whether Non-native Directed Speech (NNDS) facilitates second language (L2) learning, specifically L2 word learning and production. Spanish participants (N = 50) learned novel English words, presented either in NNDS or Native-Directed Speech (NDS), in two tasks: Recognition and Production. Recognition involved matching novel objects to their labels produced in NNDS or NDS. Production required participants to pronounce these objects’ labels. The novel words contained English vowel contrasts, which approximated Spanish vowel categories more (/i-ɪ/) or less (/ʌ-æ/). Participants in the NNDS group exhibited faster recognition of novel words, improved learning, and produced the /i-ɪ/ contrast with greater distinctiveness in comparison to the NDS group. Participants’ ability to discriminate the target vowel contrasts was also assessed before and after the tasks, with no improvement detected in the two groups. These findings support the didactic assumption of NNDS, indicating the relevance of the phonetic adaptations in this register for successful L2 acquisition.This research was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship (LCF/BQ/DI19/11730045) from “La Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) to G.P., and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship (RYC2018-024284-I) to M.K. This research was supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022-2025 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation CEX2020-001010-S. The research was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2020-113926GB-I00 to C.D.M.), and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 819093 to C.D.M.)

Is repairing speech errors an automatic or a controlled process? Insights from the relationship between error and repair probabilities in English and Spanish

Published online: 02 Jul 2019Speakers can correct their speech errors, but the mechanisms behind repairs are still unclear. Some findings, such as the speed of repairs and speakers’ occasional unawareness of them, point to an automatic repair process. This paper reports a finding that challenges a purely automatic repair process. Specifically, we show that as error rate increases, so does the proportion of repairs. Twenty highly-proficient English-Spanish bilinguals described dynamic visual events in real time (e.g. “The blue bottle disappears behind the brown curtain”) in English and Spanish blocks. Both error rates and proportion of corrected errors were higher on (a) noun phrase (NP)2 vs. NP1, and (b) word1 (adjective in English and noun in Spanish) vs. word2 within the NP. These results show a consistent relationship between error and repair probabilities, disentangled from position, compatible with a model in which greater control is recruited in error-prone situations to enhance the effectiveness of repair.This work was supported in part by the NSF grant 1631993 awarded to N.N., and in part by the Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience Fund endowed to the Cognitive Neurology division of the Neurology Department at Johns Hopkins University. C.D. Martin was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SEV-2015-490; PSI2017-82941-P; Europa-Excelencia ERC2018-092833) and the Basque Government (PIBA18-29)

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

Published: 18 August 2020Vocabulary learning occurs throughout the lifespan, often implicitly. For foreign language learners, this is particularly challenging as they must acquire a large number of new words with little exposure. In the present study, we explore the effects of contextual diversity—namely, the number of texts a word appears in—on native and foreign language word learning. Participants read several texts that had novel pseudowords replacing high-frequency words. The total number of encounters with the novel words was held constant, but they appeared in 1, 2, 4, or 8 texts. In addition, some participants read the texts in Spanish (their native language) and others in English (their foreign language). We found that increasing contextual diversity improved recall and recognition of the word, as well as the ability to match the word with its meaning while keeping comprehension unimpaired. Using a foreign language only affected performance in the matching task, where participants had to quickly identify the meaning of the word. Results are discussed in the greater context of the word learning and foreign language literature as well as their importance as a teaching tool.This research has been partially funded by grants PGC2018-097145-B-I00, RED2018-102615-T, PSI2015-65689-P, and SEV-2015-0490 from the Spanish Government, H2019/HUM-5705 from the Comunidad de Madrid, and AThEME-613465 from the European Union. This research is supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation SEV-2015-0490. CF is supported by a MINECO predoctoral grant from the Spanish government (BES-2016-077169)