A new hypothesis about second language learning

关于第二语言学习的新假设

• 批准号: 8970210
• 负责人: Judith F. Kroll
• 金额: $ 7.61万
• 依托单位: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8970210
• 关键词: Adult; Affect; Age; Behavioral; Brain imaging; Characteristics; Cognitive; Comprehension; Data; Education; English Learner; Environment; Event-Related Potentials; Exhibits; Eye; Immersion Investigative Technique; Individual; Language; Language Development; Learning; Literature; Measures; Mediation; Memory; Modeling; Nature; Outcome; Performance; Phase; Process; Production; Reading; Relative (related person); Research; Resources; Source; Spain; Speed; Staging; System; Testing; Time; base; behavior measurement; bilingualism; cost; insight; interest; language processing; phonology; programs; public health relevance; research study

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adult learners often find it difficult to acquire a high level of proficiency in a second language (L2). The literature on L2 learning is rich with evidence and debate concerning the source of constraints that potentially challenge complete acquisition at each level of language processing. Despite the documented constraints, some learners manage to successfully achieve native-like performance in the L2, but the evidence on what it takes for a learner to be successful or for a learning context to be enabling is mixed. Having a high level of cognitive resources or being immersed in the L2 context all appear to contribute to positive outcomes, but not uniquely. In the planned research we take direction from recent findings on proficient bilinguals to test a new hypothesis about second language learning. The hypothesis is that successful L2 learners are individuals who are able to tolerate change to the native language. That change may involve processing costs that initially slow the native language and make native language performance more error prone, make learners less sensitive to some features of the native language, and that open the native language to the influences of the L2. High levels of cognitive resources and immersion in the L2 may enhance this process but what is hypothesized to be fundamental is change to the first language (L1) that functionally allows the L2 to develop as part of the language system. We review the background on bilingualism on which this hypothesis is based, present pilot data that reveal costs to language processing during early stages of L2 learning, and then consider evidence from the literature on learning and memory that suggests that initial costs to learning may result in more successful later outcomes. We then outline a program of research that investigates changes to the native language that occur during the course of adult L2 learning. We will examine learners at different levels of proficiency, in typical classroom learning contexts and under conditions of language immersion. We contrast changes to the native language at the level of the lexicon, the grammar, and the phonology, comparing comprehension and production, using behavioral measures of speed and accuracy, eye tracking measures during reading, and electrophysiological measures that examine the earliest time course of language processing. Although the focus in the planned research is on the L1, all experiments also assess performance in the L2 to consider the relationship between L1 change and L2 performance. A specific question is whether there is a relationship between L1 change during L2 learning and the degree of L1 transfer, a mechanism that has been identified as an important feature of initial L2 learning. The new hypothesis leads to the counterintuitive prediction that individuals who are able to tolerate change to the native language may be less likely to depend as heavily on L1 transfer as individuals who maintain the autonomy of the L1.

 描述（由适用提供）：成人学习者经常发现很难获得第二语言的高水平熟练程度（L2）。关于L2学习的文献丰富有证据 并辩论有关在每个语言处理层面上可能挑战完全获取的约束来源的辩论。尽管有记录的限制，但一些学习者设法在L2中成功实现了类似土著的表现，但是关于学习者成功或学习环境所需的证据是混合的。拥有高水平的认知资源或沉浸在L2环境中似乎都会导致积极的结果，但并非独特。在计划的研究中，我们从最近关于熟练双语者的发现来检验有关第二语言学习的新假设的方向。假设是，成功的L2学习者是能够忍受母语变化的个人。这种变化可能涉及处理成本，这些成本最初会减慢母语并使本地语言表现更容易出错，使学习者对母语的某些特征不太敏感，并为L2的影响开放母语。高水平的认知资源和沉浸在L2中可能会增强这一过程，但是假设是基本的是对第一语言（L1）的变化，该语言在功能上允许L2作为语言系统的一部分开发。我们回顾了有关该假设所基于的双语背景的背景，目前的试点数据揭示了在L2学习的早期阶段揭示语言处理的成本，然后考虑来自学习和记忆的文献中的证据，这表明最初的学习成本可能会导致更成功的以后结果。然后，我们概述了一个研究计划，该计划调查了成人L2学习过程中发生的母语的变化。我们将在典型的课堂学习环境和语言沉浸条件下以不同水平的水平进行研究。我们使用速度和准确性的行为测量，阅读过程中的眼动测量以及电生理测量方法来比较理解和生产的词汇水平上的母语与本地语言的对比，并进行了对比。尽管计划研究的重点是L1，但所有实验还评估了L2的性能，以考虑L1变化与L2性能之间的关系。一个具体的问题是，在L2学习过程中L1变化与L1转移程度之间是否存在关系，该机制已被确定为初始L2学习的重要特征。新的假设导致了违反直觉的预测，即能够忍受对母语变化的个人可能不太可能严重依赖于L1转移，而L1转移的可能性与维持L1自治的个人一样。