Language, Interaction and Acquisition - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2010

Researchers in the field of language acquisition may adopt various particular theoretical approaches to the description and explanation of linguistic phenomena. They need this theory to describe the nature of what is or is not undergoing change over time. However linguistic theory normally makes no reference to the time dimension, a dimension crucial to any study of development. Psycholinguists, on the other hand, focus on temporal phenomena but these are normally measured in milliseconds. At the same time, they still need a coherent model of linguistic structure to carry out their investigations. The logic of this suggests that a framework is needed that integrates linguistic theories about the properties of language, i.e., linguistic knowledge, with theories about on-line processing. The need to integrate these two ways of looking at language is also crucial for researchers who study linguistic development in the individual. One such approach is Modular Growth and Use of Language (MOGUL), a theoretical framework based on a close examination of research in several disciplines and within which utterance processing plays a vital role in explaining development. In fact, in that part of MOGUL which is devoted to explaining acquisition, the claim is that development is a side-effect of making sense of language to which we are exposed. No special learning mechanisms are involved.

The acquisition of second language (L2) syntax has been central to the study of L2 acquisition, but recently there has been an interest in how learners apply their L2 syntactic knowledge to the input in real-time comprehension. Investigating L2 learners’ moment-by-moment syntactic analysis during listening or reading of sentence as it unfolds — their parsing of the input — is important, because language learning involves both the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to use it in real time. Using methods employed in monolingual processing research, investigations often focus on the processing of temporary syntactic ambiguities and structural dependencies. Investigating ambiguities involves examining parsing decisions at points in a sentence where there is a syntactic choice and this can offer insights into the nature of the parsing mechanism, and in particular, its processing preferences. Studying the establishment of syntactic dependencies at the critical point in the input allows for an investigation of how and when different kinds of information (e.g., syntactic, semantic, pragmatic) are put to use in real-time interpretation. Within an L2 context, further questions are of interest and familiar from traditional L2 acquisition research. Specifically, how native-like are the parsing procedures that L2 learners apply when processing the L2 input? What is the role of the learner’s first language (L1)? And, what are the effects of individual factors such as age, proficiency/dominance and working memory on L2 parsing? In the current paper I will provide an overview of the findings of some experimental research designed to investigate these questions.

Numerous studies have examined the processing of inflectional morphology by second language learners, with the underlying aim of determining whether native-like processing can ever be attained. Indeed, this is an area where L2 speakers show notorious deficits, in contrast to the achievement of “target-like” grammar in other areas. The present paper reviews a series of experiments performed using online measures, notably ERPs and the recording of eye-movements, to address this question. The novelty of the present work lies in its emphasis on the properties of the L2 itself, i.e., “input factors” and how they may affect learning rate.

Studies of L2 production have shown that both children and adult learners make use of ‘formulae’, putatively ‘unanalysed’ sequences of words. In this paper I discuss how formulae may arise in L2 acquisition by processes of segmentation. Carroll and MacDonald (Ms. 2009), Carroll et al. (2009) show that even ab initio learners can rapidly segment sound forms from continuous strings. The data are consistent with two approaches to the segmentation of words: words are segmented by tracking co-occurrence statistics over adjacent syllables (transitional probabilities or TPs); the left edges of words are placed just before a strong syllable (a Metrical Segmentation Strategy). In my contribution to this special issue, I address the question of how strings of syllables can be re-analysed as morpho-syntactic categories, their phrasal projections and dependencies. I do this in terms of the Autonomous Induction Theory (Carroll 2001) discussing formulae in particular in terms of correspondences across autonomous and modular representational systems: prosodic, morpho-syntactic, and conceptual.

This article investigates the role of second or non-native languages (L2) in the acquisition of an additional language (L3). We study the impact of cross-linguistic influence on the placement of the adjective in the Noun Phrase. The analysis of oral data from learners of Spanish L3 shows that the position of adjectives departs from the canonical word order of both Spanish L3 and French L1, reflecting the word order that characterizes the other languages known by the speakers, English and German. We will attempt to identify the psycholinguistic factors underlying this phenomenon. Particular attention will be placed on the ‘foreign language effect,’ which can transform non-native languages into a default grammatical model for the processing of L3 linguistic input.

This article reports on an increasing number of SLA studies showing that interactional feedback plays a significant role in improving classroom learners’ use of the target language. Whereas the provision of feedback has proven more effective than no feedback, there are still many variables that mediate the effectiveness of interactional feedback. This article synthesizes a set of classroom studies about interactional feedback taking into account four mediating variables: (a) feedback types, (b) instructional setting, (c) learners’ age, and (d) linguistic targets. The synthesis leads to the conclusion that prescriptions to use only “implicit negative feedback” at the expense of other more overt types of interactional feedback are not supported by classroom research. The article closes with a recommendation for teachers to adopt a wide variety of interactional feedback techniques in accordance with a range of contextual, individual, and linguistic variables.

Starting from the notion of input as it is used in second language acquisition research, this study explores the conditions and forms of input processing specific to the foreign language class. The ecological analysis of a filmed corpus of two English classes at beginner and intermediate level focuses particularly on the articulation between different verbal and non verbal components of pedagogical interactions. The study highlights the multifunctional nature of these multimodal interactions and the synergy that emerges from their functioning. It also shows how the nature of non verbal behaviour and its role in structuring linguistic data depends on conditions that were specific to the language class and varies according to the level and content of learning. Within a sociocognitive perspective, the study aims to contribute to the modelisation of learning processes in the foreign language class.