Brain Responses before and after Intensive Second Language Learning: Proficiency Based Changes and First Language Background Effects in Adult Learners

Erin Jacquelyn White,Fred Genesee,Karsten Steinhauer,Jean-Claude Baron

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052318

Erin Jacquelyn White, Fred Genesee + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052318

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Abstract

This longitudinal study tracked the neuro-cognitive changes associated with second language (L2) grammar learning in adults in order to investigate how L2 processing is shaped by a learner’s first language (L1) background and L2 proficiency. Previous studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) have argued that late L2 learners cannot elicit a P600 in response to L2 grammatical structures that do not exist in the L1 or that are different in the L1 and L2. We tested whether the neuro-cognitive processes underlying this component become available after intensive L2 instruction. Korean- and Chinese late-L2-learners of English were tested at the beginning and end of a 9-week intensive English-L2 course. ERPs were recorded while participants read English sentences containing violations of regular past tense (a grammatical structure that operates differently in Korean and does not exist in Chinese). Whereas no P600 effects were present at the start of instruction, by the end of instruction, significant P600s were observed for both L1 groups. Latency differences in the P600 exhibited by Chinese and Korean speakers may be attributed to differences in L1–L2 reading strategies. Across all participants, larger P600 effects at session 2 were associated with: 1) higher levels of behavioural performance on an online grammaticality judgment task; and 2) with correct, rather than incorrect, behavioural responses. These findings suggest that the neuro-cognitive processes underlying the P600 (e.g., “grammaticalization”) are modulated by individual levels of L2 behavioural performance and learning.

Highlights

When adults begin learning a second language (L2), they start with an already-established first language (L1) system
Some researchers claim that late L2 learners can only acquire grammatical structures that are present in the L1 (e.g., [2]) while others argue that qualitatively new structures in L2 can be acquired, albeit more slowly than structures that are instantiated in the L1 [3]
We report results from a 9-week longitudinal study that investigated the neuro-cognitive changes that are associated with L2 acquisition in adults participating in an intensive English-as-a-second-language course

Summary

Introduction

When adults begin learning a second language (L2), they start with an already-established first language (L1) system. It has been argued that anything that can transfer from the L1 will and that this can, in some cases, assist learning [1]. Highly debated, is the extent to which a learner’s L1 continues to influence L2 acquisition and processing as he/she advances in L2 proficiency. From a neuro-cognitive perspective, it has been argued that L2 acquisition in late learners is influenced by the neural networks that underpin L1 processing [1,4]. It is unclear whether the L1 continues to influence (and potentially restrict) the neurocognitive mechanisms used for L2 processing as learners advance in proficiency. Using neuro-cognitive measures to longitudinally track the impact of learners’ L1 on L2 grammar processing is an important step towards understanding the neuro-cognitive changes that are associated with late L2 acquisition and the extent to which processing is influenced by the L1 [5]

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