Claims for a biologically based schedule for language learning were first advanced 50 years ago. 100+ studies later, debates continue as to the existence, scope and timing of one or more sensitive periods for SLA. At least eight reasons can be identified for the lack of consensus, several of which appear to be without basis. They are discussed, along with ten more positive developments over the past decade, including research into the possibility that the very few learners who achieve near-native L2 abilities do so because of superior language learning aptitude(s).
This study investigates the possibility of a sensitive period for the acquisition of lexical and collocational knowledge in a second language. The participants were ten adult native speakers of English and 38 very advanced adult non-native speakers with a range of ages of onset of learning. They performed a battery of tests, comprising a standard word-association test, an oral production task, and a range of written lexical tasks (developed for this study) focusing on the use of core vocabulary and multi-word units. The results are taken to support the existence of a sensitive period for lexical acquisition in a second language, and the overall tendency to similarity in scores obtained by NNSs with AOs of 7–12 and 13+ appears to indicate that this sensitive period closes around the age of six.
One of the most robust findings in the field of SLA is the different rates of success with which children and adults achieve nativelike proficiency in a L2. Age-related differences have traditionally been explained in terms of the maturational state of the learner. Recently, however, a growing number of accounts hold that age effects in ultimate attainment are due to L1 entrenchment (e.g. Flege 1999; MacWhinney 2005; Ventureyra, Pallier & Yoo 2004). In this view, an increase in L1 proficiency leads to the progressive entrenchment of L1 representations, with the consequence that L2 acquisition becomes more difficult. Inherent in this interpretation is the assumption that the “less L1”, the less it will interfere with the L2. In this paper, we analyse the theoretical underpinnings of the “L1 entrenchment accounts”, and evaluate the existing evidence for and against such claims.
The LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests (Meara 2005) are a set of exploratory tests designed to assess aptitude for second language (L2) learning. In its current or earlier version (i.e. the LLAMA or LAT), this battery of four subtests has been used in an increasing number of studies in the second language acquisition field. However, as indicated by Meara, it has not been extensively standardized. This chapter reports on the results of an exploratory validation study that assessed the reliability of the test and explored its underlying structure with a sample of 186 participants. The results showed that internal consistency and stability in time were acceptable. A series of exploratory factor analyses further suggested that the test is measuring two different aptitude dimensions.
This chapter discusses the link between working memory, phonological short-term memory and language aptitude and describes how these cognitive abilities influence second language-learning processes. I provide a critical review of the definitions and constructs of aptitude and elaborate on how phonological short-term and working memory and components of language aptitude might influence processes of language learning, such as noticing, encoding in long-term memory, proceduralization and automatization, and aid second language processing and production. The chapter also considers the stability of cognitive variables in the course of language learning and presents evidence that certain components of language aptitude are prone to change with intensive exposure to second/third languages.
This chapter reports on a new language aptitude test, the High-level Language Aptitude Battery (Hi-LAB), whose development was motivated by the need for an aptitude measure for more advanced L2 speakers. Since many language learners begin as adults, critical-period constraints work against the desired outcome. All may not be lost, however, given that some individuals attain high-level, if not native, proficiency, despite a late start. We hypothesize that they possess language aptitude comprising inherent cognitive and perceptual abilities that compensate, at least in part, for the typical post-critical-period degradation in language-learning capacity. While tests currently in use were designed to predict early rate of learning in instructed settings, Hi-LAB is conceptualized to predict successful ultimate attainment. Aptitude is a measurable ceiling on language learning, holding equal all other factors. We discuss constructs and measures, reliability and validity evidence, and uses of Hi-LAB for selecting learners for language training and in aptitude-by-treatment interaction studies.
Research on language aptitude has focused extensively on instructed second language (L2) learning and rate of L2 learning, but rarely on long-term L2 achievement in a naturalistic context. In addition, the few studies that have investigated the role of aptitude in morphosyntactic L2 attainment (e.g. Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam 2008; DeKeyser 2000; DeKeyser et al. 2010; Granena & Long 2013), have yielded mixed findings, in spite of having relied on the same type of outcome measure (i.e. a grammaticality judgment test; GJT). The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between aptitude and long-term L2 achievement as measured in two GJT modalities and sentence complexity conditions. Results showed an interaction between aptitude and GJT scores according to test modality in the L2-speaker group.
Native speaker competence includes not only grammatical knowledge but also knowledge of communal and conventional word combinations, or nativelike selections. Although all speakers are idiomatic in their L1, very few, even in immersion contexts, are as successful in their L2. This chapter presents the results of a study investigating the receptive nativelike selection ability of adult onset L2 users with long residence in the target language community, and investigates the influence of exposure, phonological short term memory (pSTM) and disposition towards interaction. We suggest that L2 users do accrue information about conventional word combinations through exposure, and that individual differences in pSTM limit both rate of learning and ultimate attainment. Crucially, these influences depend both on the context of learning and age of onset of the learner.
The aim of the present exploratory study was twofold. The first was to investigate how indicators of high-level proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment) related to aptitude in late French L2 learners. Results showed a significant positive correlation between collocations and performance on the LLAMA D (Meara 2005). The second question concerned how personality relates to indicators of high-level L2 proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment). Two personality dimensions in the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (Van der Zee & van Oudenhoven 2000) were significantly and positively correlated with scores for collocations and the LLAMA D. The preliminary findings suggest that collocations are a valid measure for high-level L2 proficiency and that it is necessary to consider both personality and social-psychological factors when predicting successful L2 learning.
Opinions differ as to the implications of research findings on sensitive periods in language learning – and more generally, on age effects – for educational policy and practice. This is true even among those convinced of relationships among age of beginning a foreign language, rate of development, and long-term attainment. It is argued that policy recommendations need to be determined with clear reference to the general educational context, including the importance of foreign language abilities in the society, and for the individuals, concerned. Early and more recent research findings are then reviewed, and proposals made for future work on the issues.
Research in second language acquisition has long posited that learners’ individual differences affect ultimate attainment. This chapter reviews studies that examine how learners with differing cognitive aptitudes respond to instructional treatments. Most of these studies showed significant aptitude-by-treatment interactions (ATI), which suggest that the effectiveness of a particular type of instruction depends on stable, cognitive abilities, such as language analysis or working memory. From our review of this literature, we conclude that, although some interactions have been shown, there is still limited work using a rigorous ATI matched/mis-matched design. We therefore assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing ATI studies, as well as their practical implications, as it is our hope that future research will incorporate the necessary design elements to probe how tailoring instruction to individual cognitive aptitudes affects second language learning.
Claims for a biologically based schedule for language learning were first advanced 50 years ago. 100+ studies later, debates continue as to the existence, scope and timing of one or more sensitive periods for SLA. At least eight reasons can be identified for the lack of consensus, several of which appear to be without basis. They are discussed, along with ten more positive developments over the past decade, including research into the possibility that the very few learners who achieve near-native L2 abilities do so because of superior language learning aptitude(s).
This study investigates the possibility of a sensitive period for the acquisition of lexical and collocational knowledge in a second language. The participants were ten adult native speakers of English and 38 very advanced adult non-native speakers with a range of ages of onset of learning. They performed a battery of tests, comprising a standard word-association test, an oral production task, and a range of written lexical tasks (developed for this study) focusing on the use of core vocabulary and multi-word units. The results are taken to support the existence of a sensitive period for lexical acquisition in a second language, and the overall tendency to similarity in scores obtained by NNSs with AOs of 7–12 and 13+ appears to indicate that this sensitive period closes around the age of six.
One of the most robust findings in the field of SLA is the different rates of success with which children and adults achieve nativelike proficiency in a L2. Age-related differences have traditionally been explained in terms of the maturational state of the learner. Recently, however, a growing number of accounts hold that age effects in ultimate attainment are due to L1 entrenchment (e.g. Flege 1999; MacWhinney 2005; Ventureyra, Pallier & Yoo 2004). In this view, an increase in L1 proficiency leads to the progressive entrenchment of L1 representations, with the consequence that L2 acquisition becomes more difficult. Inherent in this interpretation is the assumption that the “less L1”, the less it will interfere with the L2. In this paper, we analyse the theoretical underpinnings of the “L1 entrenchment accounts”, and evaluate the existing evidence for and against such claims.
The LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests (Meara 2005) are a set of exploratory tests designed to assess aptitude for second language (L2) learning. In its current or earlier version (i.e. the LLAMA or LAT), this battery of four subtests has been used in an increasing number of studies in the second language acquisition field. However, as indicated by Meara, it has not been extensively standardized. This chapter reports on the results of an exploratory validation study that assessed the reliability of the test and explored its underlying structure with a sample of 186 participants. The results showed that internal consistency and stability in time were acceptable. A series of exploratory factor analyses further suggested that the test is measuring two different aptitude dimensions.
This chapter discusses the link between working memory, phonological short-term memory and language aptitude and describes how these cognitive abilities influence second language-learning processes. I provide a critical review of the definitions and constructs of aptitude and elaborate on how phonological short-term and working memory and components of language aptitude might influence processes of language learning, such as noticing, encoding in long-term memory, proceduralization and automatization, and aid second language processing and production. The chapter also considers the stability of cognitive variables in the course of language learning and presents evidence that certain components of language aptitude are prone to change with intensive exposure to second/third languages.
This chapter reports on a new language aptitude test, the High-level Language Aptitude Battery (Hi-LAB), whose development was motivated by the need for an aptitude measure for more advanced L2 speakers. Since many language learners begin as adults, critical-period constraints work against the desired outcome. All may not be lost, however, given that some individuals attain high-level, if not native, proficiency, despite a late start. We hypothesize that they possess language aptitude comprising inherent cognitive and perceptual abilities that compensate, at least in part, for the typical post-critical-period degradation in language-learning capacity. While tests currently in use were designed to predict early rate of learning in instructed settings, Hi-LAB is conceptualized to predict successful ultimate attainment. Aptitude is a measurable ceiling on language learning, holding equal all other factors. We discuss constructs and measures, reliability and validity evidence, and uses of Hi-LAB for selecting learners for language training and in aptitude-by-treatment interaction studies.
Research on language aptitude has focused extensively on instructed second language (L2) learning and rate of L2 learning, but rarely on long-term L2 achievement in a naturalistic context. In addition, the few studies that have investigated the role of aptitude in morphosyntactic L2 attainment (e.g. Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam 2008; DeKeyser 2000; DeKeyser et al. 2010; Granena & Long 2013), have yielded mixed findings, in spite of having relied on the same type of outcome measure (i.e. a grammaticality judgment test; GJT). The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between aptitude and long-term L2 achievement as measured in two GJT modalities and sentence complexity conditions. Results showed an interaction between aptitude and GJT scores according to test modality in the L2-speaker group.
Native speaker competence includes not only grammatical knowledge but also knowledge of communal and conventional word combinations, or nativelike selections. Although all speakers are idiomatic in their L1, very few, even in immersion contexts, are as successful in their L2. This chapter presents the results of a study investigating the receptive nativelike selection ability of adult onset L2 users with long residence in the target language community, and investigates the influence of exposure, phonological short term memory (pSTM) and disposition towards interaction. We suggest that L2 users do accrue information about conventional word combinations through exposure, and that individual differences in pSTM limit both rate of learning and ultimate attainment. Crucially, these influences depend both on the context of learning and age of onset of the learner.
The aim of the present exploratory study was twofold. The first was to investigate how indicators of high-level proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment) related to aptitude in late French L2 learners. Results showed a significant positive correlation between collocations and performance on the LLAMA D (Meara 2005). The second question concerned how personality relates to indicators of high-level L2 proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment). Two personality dimensions in the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (Van der Zee & van Oudenhoven 2000) were significantly and positively correlated with scores for collocations and the LLAMA D. The preliminary findings suggest that collocations are a valid measure for high-level L2 proficiency and that it is necessary to consider both personality and social-psychological factors when predicting successful L2 learning.
Opinions differ as to the implications of research findings on sensitive periods in language learning – and more generally, on age effects – for educational policy and practice. This is true even among those convinced of relationships among age of beginning a foreign language, rate of development, and long-term attainment. It is argued that policy recommendations need to be determined with clear reference to the general educational context, including the importance of foreign language abilities in the society, and for the individuals, concerned. Early and more recent research findings are then reviewed, and proposals made for future work on the issues.
Research in second language acquisition has long posited that learners’ individual differences affect ultimate attainment. This chapter reviews studies that examine how learners with differing cognitive aptitudes respond to instructional treatments. Most of these studies showed significant aptitude-by-treatment interactions (ATI), which suggest that the effectiveness of a particular type of instruction depends on stable, cognitive abilities, such as language analysis or working memory. From our review of this literature, we conclude that, although some interactions have been shown, there is still limited work using a rigorous ATI matched/mis-matched design. We therefore assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing ATI studies, as well as their practical implications, as it is our hope that future research will incorporate the necessary design elements to probe how tailoring instruction to individual cognitive aptitudes affects second language learning.
Claims for a biologically based schedule for language learning were first advanced 50 years ago. 100+ studies later, debates continue as to the existence, scope and timing of one or more sensitive periods for SLA. At least eight reasons can be identified for the lack of consensus, several of which appear to be without basis. They are discussed, along with ten more positive developments over the past decade, including research into the possibility that the very few learners who achieve near-native L2 abilities do so because of superior language learning aptitude(s).
This study investigates the possibility of a sensitive period for the acquisition of lexical and collocational knowledge in a second language. The participants were ten adult native speakers of English and 38 very advanced adult non-native speakers with a range of ages of onset of learning. They performed a battery of tests, comprising a standard word-association test, an oral production task, and a range of written lexical tasks (developed for this study) focusing on the use of core vocabulary and multi-word units. The results are taken to support the existence of a sensitive period for lexical acquisition in a second language, and the overall tendency to similarity in scores obtained by NNSs with AOs of 7–12 and 13+ appears to indicate that this sensitive period closes around the age of six.
One of the most robust findings in the field of SLA is the different rates of success with which children and adults achieve nativelike proficiency in a L2. Age-related differences have traditionally been explained in terms of the maturational state of the learner. Recently, however, a growing number of accounts hold that age effects in ultimate attainment are due to L1 entrenchment (e.g. Flege 1999; MacWhinney 2005; Ventureyra, Pallier & Yoo 2004). In this view, an increase in L1 proficiency leads to the progressive entrenchment of L1 representations, with the consequence that L2 acquisition becomes more difficult. Inherent in this interpretation is the assumption that the “less L1”, the less it will interfere with the L2. In this paper, we analyse the theoretical underpinnings of the “L1 entrenchment accounts”, and evaluate the existing evidence for and against such claims.
The LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests (Meara 2005) are a set of exploratory tests designed to assess aptitude for second language (L2) learning. In its current or earlier version (i.e. the LLAMA or LAT), this battery of four subtests has been used in an increasing number of studies in the second language acquisition field. However, as indicated by Meara, it has not been extensively standardized. This chapter reports on the results of an exploratory validation study that assessed the reliability of the test and explored its underlying structure with a sample of 186 participants. The results showed that internal consistency and stability in time were acceptable. A series of exploratory factor analyses further suggested that the test is measuring two different aptitude dimensions.
This chapter discusses the link between working memory, phonological short-term memory and language aptitude and describes how these cognitive abilities influence second language-learning processes. I provide a critical review of the definitions and constructs of aptitude and elaborate on how phonological short-term and working memory and components of language aptitude might influence processes of language learning, such as noticing, encoding in long-term memory, proceduralization and automatization, and aid second language processing and production. The chapter also considers the stability of cognitive variables in the course of language learning and presents evidence that certain components of language aptitude are prone to change with intensive exposure to second/third languages.
This chapter reports on a new language aptitude test, the High-level Language Aptitude Battery (Hi-LAB), whose development was motivated by the need for an aptitude measure for more advanced L2 speakers. Since many language learners begin as adults, critical-period constraints work against the desired outcome. All may not be lost, however, given that some individuals attain high-level, if not native, proficiency, despite a late start. We hypothesize that they possess language aptitude comprising inherent cognitive and perceptual abilities that compensate, at least in part, for the typical post-critical-period degradation in language-learning capacity. While tests currently in use were designed to predict early rate of learning in instructed settings, Hi-LAB is conceptualized to predict successful ultimate attainment. Aptitude is a measurable ceiling on language learning, holding equal all other factors. We discuss constructs and measures, reliability and validity evidence, and uses of Hi-LAB for selecting learners for language training and in aptitude-by-treatment interaction studies.
Research on language aptitude has focused extensively on instructed second language (L2) learning and rate of L2 learning, but rarely on long-term L2 achievement in a naturalistic context. In addition, the few studies that have investigated the role of aptitude in morphosyntactic L2 attainment (e.g. Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam 2008; DeKeyser 2000; DeKeyser et al. 2010; Granena & Long 2013), have yielded mixed findings, in spite of having relied on the same type of outcome measure (i.e. a grammaticality judgment test; GJT). The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between aptitude and long-term L2 achievement as measured in two GJT modalities and sentence complexity conditions. Results showed an interaction between aptitude and GJT scores according to test modality in the L2-speaker group.
Native speaker competence includes not only grammatical knowledge but also knowledge of communal and conventional word combinations, or nativelike selections. Although all speakers are idiomatic in their L1, very few, even in immersion contexts, are as successful in their L2. This chapter presents the results of a study investigating the receptive nativelike selection ability of adult onset L2 users with long residence in the target language community, and investigates the influence of exposure, phonological short term memory (pSTM) and disposition towards interaction. We suggest that L2 users do accrue information about conventional word combinations through exposure, and that individual differences in pSTM limit both rate of learning and ultimate attainment. Crucially, these influences depend both on the context of learning and age of onset of the learner.
The aim of the present exploratory study was twofold. The first was to investigate how indicators of high-level proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment) related to aptitude in late French L2 learners. Results showed a significant positive correlation between collocations and performance on the LLAMA D (Meara 2005). The second question concerned how personality relates to indicators of high-level L2 proficiency (collocations and grammaticality judgment). Two personality dimensions in the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (Van der Zee & van Oudenhoven 2000) were significantly and positively correlated with scores for collocations and the LLAMA D. The preliminary findings suggest that collocations are a valid measure for high-level L2 proficiency and that it is necessary to consider both personality and social-psychological factors when predicting successful L2 learning.
Opinions differ as to the implications of research findings on sensitive periods in language learning – and more generally, on age effects – for educational policy and practice. This is true even among those convinced of relationships among age of beginning a foreign language, rate of development, and long-term attainment. It is argued that policy recommendations need to be determined with clear reference to the general educational context, including the importance of foreign language abilities in the society, and for the individuals, concerned. Early and more recent research findings are then reviewed, and proposals made for future work on the issues.
Research in second language acquisition has long posited that learners’ individual differences affect ultimate attainment. This chapter reviews studies that examine how learners with differing cognitive aptitudes respond to instructional treatments. Most of these studies showed significant aptitude-by-treatment interactions (ATI), which suggest that the effectiveness of a particular type of instruction depends on stable, cognitive abilities, such as language analysis or working memory. From our review of this literature, we conclude that, although some interactions have been shown, there is still limited work using a rigorous ATI matched/mis-matched design. We therefore assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing ATI studies, as well as their practical implications, as it is our hope that future research will incorporate the necessary design elements to probe how tailoring instruction to individual cognitive aptitudes affects second language learning.