Doctoral Dissertation Research: Dynamics of language processing and the consequences for new language learning

博士论文研究：语言处理的动态及其对新语言学习的影响

• 批准号: 1551892
• 负责人: Judith Kroll
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-02-01 至 2017-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1551892&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Dynamics; language

As the economy, society, and culture of the United States continue to take part in a larger global culture, it is becoming more important to learn languages spoken in other countries, as well as to improve the methods for teaching English as a second language to the families arriving to the United States. Children appear to be better at learning new languages than adults, who instead have very mixed outcomes in how well they ultimately learn a new language. For decades, research has attempted to understand why adults experience more difficulty in learning new languages and what characterizes good language learners compared to less successful language learners, so that we can use this information to improve teaching methods. From this research, we have learned how certain factors contribute to the outcomes in new language learning, but much of the variability remains unaccounted for, suggesting that there is still a piece of the puzzle missing. With National Science Foundation support, Ms. Kinsey Bice, working under the direction of Dr. Judith Kroll, will investigate how individual differences in learning may shape patterns of new second language learning.The current project will examine how previous language experience combines with general cognitive resources to affect the trajectory of new language learning. Previous research has identified differences in the way that the native language is processed that may contribute to the trajectory of new language learning (i.e., fast and slow language learners), and that may also be affected by how speakers recruit various aspects of cognition (e.g., working memory, pattern abstraction) when processing their native language. This project will examine how these differences in skilled language processing predict the trajectory of new language learning, as well as whether the differences are related to variation in non-language abilities. Bilingual speakers, who already have experience with learning a new language and who do not use either language exactly as monolingual speakers do, have previously been found to be better at acquiring new languages, but bilinguals differ from each other in many ways that affect their language learning outcomes. This project will compare both monolingual and bilingual speakers in how they process their skilled languages and how they learn new languages. Behavioral methods and brain potentials will be used to determine whether the brain reflects some learning processes that are not apparent in behavior alone. The bilinguals tested will be typical college students who are taking advanced foreign language classes, as well as heritage Spanish speakers who are raised in Spanish-speaking homes but then educated in English. These two groups of bilinguals represent language experiences that American citizens often encounter themselves, while the monolingual groups will be recruited from parts of the United States that differ in the levels of ambient exposure to foreign languages.

随着美国的经济，社会和文化继续参加更大的全球文化，学习在其他国家使用的语言以及改善到达美国家庭的第二语言的方法变得越来越重要。儿童似乎比成年人更好地学习新语言，而成年人的结果在最终学习新语言方面的结果非常不同。几十年来，研究一直试图理解为什么成年人在学习新语言方面经历了更多的困难以及与不太成功的语言学习者相比，是什么特征是良好的语言学习者，以便我们可以使用这些信息来改善教学方法。从这项研究中，我们了解了某些因素如何促进新语言学习的结果，但是许多可变性仍然没有说明，这表明仍然缺少一部分难题。在国家科学基金会的支持下，在朱迪思·克罗尔（Judith Kroll）博士的指导下工作的金西·比斯（Kinsey Bice）女士将研究学习中的个体差异如何塑造新的第二语言学习的模式。当前的项目将研究以前的语言经验与一般认知资源结合，以影响新语言学习的轨迹。先前的研究已经确定了在处理新语言学习轨迹（即快速和缓慢的语言学习者）的方式方面的差异，并且在处理本地语言时，这也可能会受到说话者如何招募认知方面（例如，工作记忆，模式抽象）的各个方面的影响。该项目将研究熟练语言处理中的这些差异如何预测新语言学习的轨迹，以及差异是否与非语言能力的差异有关。双语演讲者已经有学习新语言的经验，并且没有完全使用单语言的人使用两种语言，但以前已经发现在获取新语言方面更好，但双语者在许多方面彼此不同，以影响他们的语言学习兴趣。该项目将通过如何处理熟练的语言以及如何学习新语言来比较单语言和双语演讲者。行为方法和大脑电位将用于确定大脑是否反映了某些在行为中不明显的学习过程。经过测试的双语者将是参加高级外语课程的典型大学生，以及在讲西班牙语的房屋中长大但以英语教育的西班牙语者。这两组双语者代表了美国公民经常遇到的语言经历，而单语群体将是从美国部分地区招募的，这些群体在环境暴露于外语的水平上有所不同。