Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T03:04:42.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of working memory in processing L2 input: Insights from eye-tracking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

BIMALI INDRARATHNE  and
JUDIT KORMOS
BIMALI INDRARATHNE
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
JUDIT KORMOS*
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Judit Kormos, Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 4YL. j.kormos@lancaster.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Our study investigated how attention paid to a target syntactic construction causative had is related to the storage capacity and attention regulation function of working memory (WM) and how these WM abilities moderate the change of knowledge of the target construction in different input conditions. 80 Sri Lankan learners of English were exposed to examples of the target construction in explicit and implicit learning conditions and their eye movements were tracked as they read the input. Correlational and multiple regression analyses indicated a very strong relationship between WM abilities and gains in the knowledge of the target construction. WM scores were closely associated with gains in receptive knowledge in all input conditions, but they had a weaker link to the improvement of productive knowledge in the implicit learning conditions. The amount of attention paid to input was also strongly related to WM abilities.

Keywords

Attentionworking memory capacitycentral executive functionsinput processingeye-tracking
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 355 - 374
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*We are grateful for the support of the Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom Grant No ES/P00962X/1. All instruments used in this study are deposited in the IRIS database (https://www.iris-database.org).

References

Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. (2007). Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20, 242–275.Google Scholar
Ahmadian, M. J. (2015). Working memory, online planning and L2 self-repair behaviour. In Wen, Z., Borges, M. & McNeill, A. (Eds.), Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 160–174). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Allport, A. (1988). What concept of consciousness? In Marcel, A. J. & Bisiach, E. (Eds.), Consciousness in contemporary science (pp. 159–182). London, England: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Alptekin, C., & Erçetin, G. (2009). Assessing the relationship of working memory to L2 reading: Does the nature of comprehension process and reading span task make a difference? System, 37, 627–639.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory . In Bower, G.H. (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36 (3): 189–208.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (2015). Working memory in second language learning. In Wen, Z., Borges, M. & McNeill, A. (Eds.), Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 17–28). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Baralt, M. (2015). Working memory capacity, cognitive complexity and L2 recasts in online language teaching. In Wen, Z., Borges, M. & McNeill, A. (Eds.), Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 248–269). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Briscoe, J., & Rankin, P. M. (2009). Exploration of a ‘double-jeopardy’ hypothesis within working memory profiles for children with specific language impairment. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 44, 236–250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cain, K. (2006). Individual differences in children's memory and reading comprehension: An investigation of semantic and inhibitory deficits. Memory, 14, 553–569.Google Scholar
Cain, K., & Bignell, S. (2014). Reading and listening comprehension and their relation to inattention and hyperactivity. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 108–124.Google Scholar
Chun, M. M., Golomb, J. D., & Turk-Browne, N. B. (2011). A taxonomy of external and internal attention. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 73–101.Google Scholar
Cognitivefun (2008-2012). Cognitive tests: Color Reading Interference (Stroop). Available at http://cognitivefun.net/test/2 Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Strasbourg: Language Policy Division, Council of Europe. Available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf Google Scholar
De Graaff, R. (1997). The eXperanto experiment: Effects of explicit instruction on second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 249–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doughty, C. (2001). Cognitive underpinnings of focus on form. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 206–57). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N.C. (1996). Sequencing in SLA: Phonological memory, chunking, and points of order. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 91–126.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2007). The weak-interface consciousness, and form-focussed instruction: Mind the doors. In Fotos, S. & Nassaji, H. (Eds.), Form focused instruction and teacher education: Studies in honour of Rod Ellis (pp. 17–33). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N.C., & Sinclair, S.G. (1996). Working memory in the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax: Putting language in good order. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49A, 234–250.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 83–107.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2009). Implicit and explicit learning, knowledge and instruction. In Ellis, R. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching (pp. 3–25). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Erickson, A.P. (2013). The ABC's of font: effects of changing default fonts. EWU Masters Thesis Collection. Paper 108.Google Scholar
Erlam, R. (2005). Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 9, 147–171.Google Scholar
Gathercole, S., & Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language (Essays in cognitive psychology). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C. S., Baddeley, A. D., & Emslie, H. (1994). The Children's Test of Nonword Repetition: A test of phonological working memory. Memory, 2, 103– 127.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., & Uggen, M.S. (2013). Attention to irregular verbs by beginning learners of German: An eye-movement study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 35, 291–322.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., & Winke, P. (2015). Investigating implicit and explicit processing using L2 learners' eye-movement data. In Rebuschat, P. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 73–90). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Grey, S., Williams, J.N., & Rebuschat, P. (2015). Individual differences in incidental language learning: Phonological working memory, learning styles, and personality. Learning and Individual Differences, 38, 44–53.Google Scholar
Harrington, M., & Sawyer, M. (1992). L2 working memory capacity and L2 reading skill. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14, 25–38.Google Scholar
Hassin, R. R., Bargh, J. A., Engell, A. D., & McCulloch, K. C. (2009). Implicit working memory. Consciousness and Cognition, 18, 665–678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heatley, A., Nation, I.S.P., & Coxhead, A. (2002). Range and frequency programs. Retrieved from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation.aspx.Google Scholar
Hull, R., Martin, R.C, Beier, M.E., Lane, D., & Hamilton, A.C. (2008). Executive function in older adults: A structural equation modeling approach. Neuropsychology, 22, 508–522.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. (2015). Explaining phenomena of first and second language acquisition with the constructs of implicit and explicit learning. The virtues and pitfalls of a two system view. In Rebuschat, P. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 25–47). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Indrarathne, B., & Kormos (2016). Attentional processing of input in different input conditions: an eye-tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S027226311600019X Google Scholar
Issa, B., Morgan-Short, K., Villegas, B., & Raney, G. (2015). An eye-tracking study on the role of attention and its relationship with motivation. In Roberts, L., McManus, K., Vanek, N. & Trenkic, D. (Eds.) EUROSLA Yearbook 2015 (pp. 114–142). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York, NY: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Jeffries, S., & Everatt, J. (2004). Working memory: Its role in dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties. Dyslexia, 10, 196–214.Google Scholar
Jonides, J., & Smith, E. E. (1997). The architecture of working memory. In Rugg, M.D. (Ed.), Cognitive Neuroscience (pp. 243–276). Sussex, England: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M.W. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 Learning. Language Teaching: Reviews and Studies, 42, 137–166.Google Scholar
Koch, C., & Tsuchiya, N. (2006). Attention and consciousness: Two distinct brain processes. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 16–22.Google Scholar
Kormos, J. (2013). New conceptualizations of language aptitude in second language attainment. In Granena, G. and Long, M. (Eds.), Sensitive periods, language aptitude and ultimate L2 attainment (pp. 131–152). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Lamme, V. A. F. (2003). Why visual attention and awareness are different. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 12–18.Google Scholar
Lance, C. E., Butts, M. M., & Michels, L. C. (2006). The sources of four commonly reported cutoff criteria: What did they really say? Organizational Research Methods, 9, 202– 220.Google Scholar
Li, S. (2015). Working memory, language analytical ability and L2 recasts. In Wen, Z., Borges, M. & McNeill, A. (Eds.), Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 139–159). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Linck, J.A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J.T., & Bunting, M.F. (2013). Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1–23.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Hughes, M. M., Campbell, S. G., Silbert, N. H., Tare, M., Jackson, S.R., Smith, B. K., Bunting, M. F., & Doughty, C. (2013). Hi-LAB: A new measure of aptitude for high-level language proficiency. Language Learning, 63, 530–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackey, A., Philp, J., Egi, T., Fujii, A., & Tatsumi, T. (2002). Individual differences in working memory, noticing of interactional feedback and L2 development. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed language learning (pp. 181–210). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Martin, K.I., & Ellis, N.C. (2012). The roles of phonological short-term memory and working memory in l2 grammar and vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 34, 379–413.Google Scholar
Martini, M., Sachse, P., Furtner, M. R., & Gaschler, R. (2015). Why should working memory be related to incidentally learned sequence structures. Cortex, 64, 407– 410.Google Scholar
Max Velmans, G. (2009). How to define consciousness—and how not to define consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 16 (5), 139–156.Google Scholar
McFarland, D. (2006). Dictionary of animal behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (2012). The nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions four general conclusions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 8–14.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., Friedman, N., Emerson, M., Witzki, A., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex ‘‘frontal lobe’’ tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N.P. (1998). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Working memory as language aptitude. In Healy, A. F., & Bourne, L. E. Jr. (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies on training and retention (pp. 339–364). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Monsell, S. (2005). The chronometrics of task-set control. In Duncan, J., Phillips, L. & McLeod, P. (Eds.), Measuring the mind: Speed, control, and age (pp. 161–90). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat? The Philosophical Review 83, 435–450.Google Scholar
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50, 417–528.Google Scholar
O'Brien, I., Segalowitz, N., Collentine, J., & Freed, B. (2006). Phonological memory and lexical, narrative, and grammatical skills in second language oral production by adult learners. Applied Psycholinguistics 27, 377–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pett, M., Lackey, N., & Sullivan, J. (2003). Making sense of factor analysis. Thousand Oaks, NJ: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickering, S. J., & Gathercole, S. E. (2001). Working Memory Test Battery for Children. London, England: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Puric, D., & Pavlovic, M. (2012). Executive function of shifting: Factorial structure and relations to personality and intelligence domains. Suvremena Psihologija, 15 (2), 177–191.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1989). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 118, 219–235.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S., Walkenfeld, F. F., & Hernstadt, R. (1991). Implicit and explicit learning: Individual differences and IQ. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 888–896.Google Scholar
Révész, A. (2012). Working memory and the observed effectiveness of recasts on different L2 outcome measures. Language Learning, 62, 93–132.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. J., Hager, L. D., & Heron, C. (1994). Prefrontal cognitive processes: Working memory and inhibition in the saccade task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 374–393.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2005). Cognitive abilities, chunk-strength, and frequency effects in implicit artificial grammar and incidental L2 learning: Replications of Reber, Walkenfeld, and Hernstadt (1991) and Knowlton and Squire (1996) and their relevance for SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 235–268.Google Scholar
Robinson, P., Mackey, A., Gass, S. M., & Schmidt, R. (2012). Attention and awareness in second language acquisition. In Gass, S. M. & Mackey, A. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 247–267). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rogers, R.D., & Monsell, S. (1995). The cost of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 207– 231 Google Scholar
Sagarra, N., & Abbuhl, R. (2013). Optimizing the noticing of recasts via computer delivered feedback: Evidence that oral input enhancement and working memory help second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 97, 196–216.Google Scholar
Santamaria, K., & Sunderman, G. (2015). Working memory in processing instruction: The acquisition of French clitics. In Z. Wen, M. Borges & A. McNeill (Eds.). Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 205–223). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics 11, 129–158.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (2010). Attention, awareness, and individual differences in language learning. In Chan, W. M., Chi, S., Cin, K. N., Istanto, J., Nagami, M., Sew, J. W., Suthiwan, T., & Walker, I., Proceedings of CLaSIC 2010, Singapore, December 2–4 (pp. 721–737). Singapore: National University of Singapore, Centre for Language Studies.Google Scholar
Shahabi, S. R., Abad, F. J., & Colom, R. (2014). Short-term storage is a stable predictor of fluid intelligence whereas working memory capacity and executive function are not: A comprehensive study with Iranian schoolchildren. Intelligence, 44, 134–141.Google Scholar
Shiffrin, R.M. (1988). Attention. In Atkinson, R.A., Herrnstein, R.J., Lindzey, G. & Luce, R.D. (Eds.), Stevens’ handbook of experimental psychology Vol. 2 Learning and Cognition (pp.739–811). New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Shinn-Cunningham, B.G. (2008). Object-based auditory and visual attention. Trends in Cognitive Science 12, 182–186.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (2015). Foreign language aptitude and its relationship with grammar: A critical overview. Applied Linguistics, 36, 367–384.Google Scholar
Smith, E. E., & Kosslyn, S. M. (2006). Cognitive psychology: Mind and brain. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Snow, R. E. (1992). Aptitude theory: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Educational Psychologist, 27, 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soto, D., & Silvanto, J. (2014). Reappraising the relationship between working memory and conscious awareness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18, 520–525.Google Scholar
Spada, N., & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60, 263–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. F. (2009). When study-abroad experience fails to deliver: The internal resources threshold effect. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 79–99.Google Scholar
St Clair-Thompson, H.L., & Gathercole, S.E. (2006). Executive functions and achievements in school: Shifting, updating, inhibition, and working memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 745–59.Google Scholar
Styles, E. A. (2006). The psychology of attention 2nd edition. Hove, NJ: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Tagarelli, K.M., Borges Mota, M., & Rebuschat, P. (2011). The role of working memory in implicit and explicit language learning. In Carlson, L., Holscher, C. & Shipley, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 33rd annual conference of the cognitive science society (pp. 2016–2066). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
Tagarelli, K.M., Borges Mota, M., & Rebuschat, P. (2015). Working memory, learning conditions and the acquisition of L2 syntax. In Wen, Z., Borges, M. & McNeill, A. (Eds.). Working memory in second language acquisition and processing (pp. 224–247). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Tamnes, C.K., Walhovd, K.B., Grydeland, H., Holland, D., Østby, Y., Dale, A.M., & Fjell, A.M. (2013). Longitudinal working memory development is related to structural maturation of frontal and parietal cortices. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 1611–1623.Google Scholar
Trueswell, J. C., Tanenhaus, M. K., & Garnsey, S. M. (1994). Semantic influences on parsing: Use of thematic role information in syntactic ambiguity resolution. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 285–318.Google Scholar
Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2005). Working memory capacity and fluid abilities: Examining the correlation between operation span and raven. Intelligence, 33, 67– 81.Google Scholar
Van der Linden, M., Brédart, S., & Beerten, A. (1994). Age-related differences in updating working memory. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 145–152.Google Scholar
Ward, G., & Allport, A. (1997). Planning and problem-solving using the 5-disc Tower of London task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50, 49–78.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, O., Hildebrandt, A., & Oberauer, K. (2013). What is working memory capacity, and how can we measure it? Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences, 4, 433.Google Scholar
Williams, J.N., & Lovatt, P. (2003). Phonological memory and rule learning. Language Learning, 53, 67–121 Google Scholar
Wolfe, J.M., & Horowitz, T.S. (2004). What attributes guide the deployment of visual attention and how do they do it? Nature Reviews 5, 1–7.Google Scholar
Yilmaz, Y., & Granena, G. (2015). The role of cognitive aptitudes for explicit language learning in the relative effects of explicit and implicit feedback. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. doi:10.1017/S136672891400090X Google Scholar
Zheng, D., Dong, X., Sun, H., Xu, Y., Ma, Y., & Wang, X. (2012). The overall impairment of core executive function components in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A cross-sectional study. BMC Neurology, 12, 138.Google Scholar
Ziegler, J., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 31, 3–29.Google Scholar