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Part of
Generative SLA in the Age of Minimalism: Features, interfaces, and beyond
Edited by Tania Leal, Elena Shimanskaya and Casilde A. Isabelli
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 67] 2022
► pp. 243–264

Interference-based and capacity-based approaches to working memory in second language sentence processing

| University of Reading

The role that working memory may play in explaining potential differences between native and non-native sentence processing has been increasingly debated. In this chapter, I discuss how the conceptualisation of working memory is crucial to our understanding of its role in second language processing. In particular, I compare capacity-based approaches that focus on working memory resources and interference-based approaches that focus on memory encoding and retrieval. After reviewing evidence for both approaches to working memory, I argue that interference-based accounts provide a promising approach for examining the role of working memory in second language processing. Although I focus on non-native sentence processing, I also touch on related issues in second language acquisition.

Keywords: second language processing, second language acquisition, working memory, similarity-based interference, memory capacity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Working memory in L2 sentence processing
    • 2.1Capacity-based approaches to L2 sentence processing
    • 2.2Interference-based approaches to L2 sentence processing
  • 3.Characterising and measuring L2 individual differences
    • 3.1Memory capacity in L2 processing
    • 3.2Memory interference in L2 processing
    • 3.3Retrieval cues in processing and acquisition
    • 3.4Task performance and characterising individual differences
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 August 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.67.10cun
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