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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. 157–184

An empirical study of working memory, personality, and second language construction learning

The study presented in this chapter investigated the role of individual differences in construction learning under different conditions of partial repetition. Ninety participants were exposed to an artificial system of noun-suffix constructions under one of three incidental learning conditions, which either repeated nouns across consecutive trials, repeated suffixes across consecutive trials, or contained no repetition across consecutive trials. It was hypothesized that: (a) working memory (WM) and (b) openness would predict L2 construction learning, and that (c) the influence of WM would be stronger in the absence of repetition, while (d) intellect would be associated with attention to form. The results indicated that participants learned the artificial system, with no differences between conditions. Measures of WM and openness correlated positively and significantly with untrained (i.e. generalization) test scores. Mixed-effects binominal regression models revealed significant effects for WM, but showed no interactions between condition and WM. Intellect was significantly related to a measure of attention. In sum, this study provides additional evidence that WM fosters generalization and further suggests that the distinction between openness and intellect may be useful for understanding novel second language learning.

Article outline
  • 1.Literature review
    • 1.1WM and novel L2 learning
    • 1.2Aptitudes, treatments, and interactions
    • 1.3Isolating the influences of openness and intellect
  • 2.The present study
    • 2.1Aims and hypotheses
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participant characteristics
    • 3.2Procedures
    • 3.3Artificial language input
    • 3.4Exposure
    • 3.5Measures
      • 3.5.1Picture-word matching test
      • 3.5.2Attention to form
      • 3.5.3Written questionnaire: Awareness items
      • 3.5.4Written questionnaire: Personality items
      • 3.5.5Written questionnaire: Background items
      • 3.5.6Dual 3-back task
      • 3.5.7Reading span task
      • 3.5.8Research design
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Preliminary analyses
    • 4.2Hypothesis 1a: Relationships between WM and L2 construction learning
    • 4.3Hypothesis 1b: Interactions between WM and conditions
    • 4.4Hypothesis 2: Openness and L2 construction learning
    • 4.5Hypothesis 3: Intellect and cognitive IDs
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Working memory and L2 construction learning under variation set conditions
    • 5.2Openness and the learning of L2 constructions
    • 5.3Intellect and cognitive individual differences
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 23 December 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.3.08jac
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