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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
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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
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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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).

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