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Cognitive Individual Differences in Second Language Processing and Acquisition
Edited by Gisela Granena, Daniel O. Jackson and Yucel Yilmaz
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 3] 2016
► pp. 41–67

Miniature natural language learning in L2 acquisition research

| University of Abertay Dundee
| College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, CUNY

Researchers who wish to study mechanisms underlying second language (L2) learning and factors influencing its success face a trade-off between low experimental control in studies of naturalistic language acquisition and low typological and ecological validity in studies of artificial language learning. The methodological solution we propose is a miniature natural language learning paradigm, which exposes participants to selected elements of an unfamiliar L2, in the form of meaningful dialogues, over a period of several laboratory sessions. We show how this methodology allows researchers to understand how various components of learning interact as learners are exposed to vocabulary and grammar simultaneously, and how characteristics of both the learner and the input influence learning outcomes.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Experimental language learning methods
    • 2.1Artificial grammar learning
    • 2.2Artificial language learning
    • 2.2.1Artificial languages with artificial referents
    • 2.2.2Artificial languages with natural referents
  • 3.Miniature natural language learning
    • 3.1Studying input and learner variables using miniature natural languages
    • 3.2Structuring the input to facilitate language learning
    • 3.3Interactions of input and learner characteristics
    • 3.4Transfer of knowledge about grammatical gender
    • 3.5Exploring the relationship of vocabulary and grammar learning
    • 3.6Exploring the relationship between artificial grammar learning and natural language learning
  • 4.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 23 December 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.3.03kem
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