Dynamics of L3 lexical representations of Dutch-English-Mandarin trilinguals

Words are the backbone of language activity. An average 20-year-old native speaker of English will have a vocabulary of about 42,000 words. These words are connected with one another within the larger network of lexical knowledge that is termed the mental lexicon. The metaphor of a mental lexicon has played a central role in the development of theories of language and mind and has provided an intellectual meeting ground for psychologists, neurolinguists, and psycholinguists. Research on the mental lexicon has shown that lexical knowledge is not static. New words are acquired throughout the life span, creating very large increases in the richness of connectivity within the lexical system and changing the system as a whole. Because most people in the world speak more than one language, the default mental lexicon may be a multilingual one. Such a mental lexicon differs substantially from a lexicon of an individual language and would lead to the creation of new integrated lexical systems due to the pressure on the system to organize and access lexical knowledge in a homogenous manner. The mental lexicon contains both word knowledge and morphological knowledge. There is also evidence that it contains multiword strings such as idioms and lexical bundles. This speaks in support of a nonrestrictive “big tent” view of units of representation within the mental lexicon. Changes in research on lexical representations in language processing have emphasized lexical action and the role of learning. Although the metaphor of words as distinct representations within a lexical store has served to advance knowledge, it is more likely that words are best seen as networks of activity that are formed and affected by experience and learning throughout the life span.

According to the cognitive action architecture approach (CAA-A; Schack, 2002, 2004), mental representations play a central role in movement control, as they are hierarchically structured in long-term memory and differentiate due to expertise. By means of structural dimensional analysis - motoric (SDA-M; Schack, 2012), movements are subdivided into basic action concepts (BACs) that are related to each other, to make mental representation structures visible. The method seeks to psychometrically depict the structural dimensions of conceptually ordered motor knowledge, both case-by-case and group-specific, and has been applied to a variety of sports contexts (Land, Volchenkov, Blasing, & Schack, 2013). Although the examination of mental representations seems promising regarding the gain of insights into the structure of movements, motor learning processes and the relation of cognitive and movement structures, research in the field of educational research has not been conducted so far. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation project is to address the main research question: What influence can the knowledge about mental representation structures of movements have in the context of physical education and the optimization processes of learning and teaching? The research issue, research program and research questions are presented in the general introduction of this thesis (chapter 1). To answer the main research question, three different perspectives are introduced in the main part. The first perspective focuses on the structure of motor skills and the methodological approach to acquiring the mental representation structures. The practical implementation of the SDA-M is discussed in a text-image comparison of questionnaire items (chapter 2). The study aimed at determining an appropriate item format for the use of the SDA-M in the context of physical education. In light of the findings, the use of text or combined items is recommended when applying the SDA-M to children or adolescents. The second perspective focuses on knowledge about the mental representation structure of learners and their execution of the skill. Based on pupils’ mental representation structure, specific instructions are developed that might contribute to the optimization of movement execution (chapter 3). Results revealed that specific instructions based on pupils’ mental representation of a gymnastics skill have a positive impact on their mental representation structure and on their motor performance. The third perspective focuses on knowledge about the mental representation structure of teachers, here represented by sports students, examining its relation with their evaluation of pupils’ movements (chapter 4). Results indicate that more structured mental representations are linked with a more precise performance evaluation. Therefore, a relation between physical education students’ mental representation structure and their evaluation of gymnastics skills can be assumed. Conclusively, in the general discussion, the key findings are highlighted, limitations are discussed and an outlook concerning practical implications and further research is provided (chapter 5). In sum, according to the findings of this dissertation, the acquisition and analysis of the structure of mental representations might constitute an effective means of optimizing the quality of physical education and can be seen as important for improving physical education teacher training as well as motor learning processes in general.

When are concepts one or many?

In this paper it is assumed that syntactic structure is projected from the lexicon. The lexical representation, which encodes the linguistically relevant aspects of the meanings of words, thus determines and constrains the syntax. Therefore, if semantic analysis of syntactic structures is to be possible, it is necessary to determine the content and structure of lexical semantic representations. The paper argues for a certain form of lexical representation by presenting the problem of a particular non-standard structure, the verb phrase of the form V-NP-Adj corresponding to various constructions of secondary predication in English. It is demonstrated that the solution to the semantic analysis of this structure lies in the meaning of the structure's predicators, in particular the lexical semantic representation of the verb. Verbs are classified according to the configuration of the lexical semantic representations, whether basic or derived. It is these specific configurations that restrict the possibilities of secondary predication. Given the class of a verb, its relation to the secondary predicate is predictable; and the correct interpretation of the V-NP-Adj string is therefore possible.

Mental representation and learning: The influence of practice on the development of mental representation structure in complex action

Research provides evidence that mental representations control human actions. It also shows a relation between mental representations and factors that might influence performance evaluation. The evaluation of motor skills figures prominently in physical education (PE) because it influences central tasks of teachers, like the provision of feedback and grading. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relation of PE students’ mental representation structures and their evaluation of pupils’ gymnastics skill performance. Mental representations and performance evaluations of the cartwheel and the roll forward were assessed in N = 30 PE students, by means of structural dimensional analysis - motoric and a video test. Participants’ mental representations and performance evaluations were compared to an expert reference. Results revealed significant differences regarding the comparison of performance evaluations for a group of participants with more structured and a group with less structured mental representations, indicating that more structured mental representations are linked with a more precise performance evaluation. The study demonstrates that there is a relation between PE students’ mental representation structure and their evaluation of gymnastics skills. Consequently, it is proposed to implement obligatory physical and mental training in the gymnastics training for future PE teachers, in order to develop expert-like mental representation structures and improve performance evaluation.

Reviewed by: Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and second language acquisition Engin Arik Peter Robinson and Nick C. Ellis, eds. 2008. Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and second language acquisition. New York/London: Routledge. Pp. x + 566. US $69.95 (softcover). Cognitive Linguistics is a rapidly growing and relatively new approach to the study of language and its relation to cognition. It encompasses a variety of theories such as Cognitive Grammar, Construction Grammar, Radical Construction Grammar, and usage-based theories of grammar, among others. It challenges mainstream linguistic theory (Chomskyan Generative Grammar) and deals with not only traditional linguistic fields such as syntax, semantics, and phonology but also subfields of linguistics from acquisition to typology. The present book provides a cognitive linguistic approach to yet another subfield of linguistics, second language acquisition. This book consists of three parts with 19 individual papers including an introduction and conclusion, followed by author and subject indices. In Part I, in “An introduction to Cognitive Linguistics, second language acquisition, and language instruction” (pp. 3–24), Nick C. Ellis and Peter Robinson overview Cognitive Linguistics in general and give the goals of the book: to summarize cognitive linguistic perspectives on language, language use, and child language acquisition and the development of a Cognitive Linguistics of second language acquisition and second language pedagogy. They also summarize the chapters in the present book. Part II comprises nine articles devoted to present cognitive linguistic approaches to the study of language and cognition. In “Aspects of attention in language” (pp. 27–38), Leonard Talmy investigates the effects of attention or salience on language. He argues that the linguistic expression, content, and context of the expression have differing degrees of attention. He shows that linguistic factors (morphological, phonological, and syntactic factors, properties of the referent and the referent’s relation to its representation, and properties of temporal progression) affect attention in language. Although these factors are universal, the extensiveness of some factors differs across languages and between first and second language acquisition. In “Prototypes in Cognitive Linguistics” (pp. 39–65), John R. Taylor explores the effects of studies on prototypes and categorization on the emergence of Cognitive Linguistics. He also shows these effects on studies of lexical semantics, phonology, syntax, and constructions. In “Cognitive Grammar as a basis for language instruction” (pp. 66–88), Ronald W. Langacker argues that, compared to other theories of grammar, his theory of Cognitive Grammar can offer a more promising ground for language pedagogy. This is because Cognitive Grammar focuses on meaning: Cognitive Grammar proposes meaningfulness of grammar such that every grammatical category (noun, verb, subject, object, and so on) can be semantically characterized. Also, Cognitive Grammar is usage-based, and thus focuses on the actual learning process. In “Word Grammar, Cognitive Linguistics, and second language learning and teaching” (pp. 89–113), Richard Hudson introduces his theory of Word Grammar and its relation to [End Page 425] second language acquisition and language pedagogy. He argues that, like memory, language (vocabulary and grammar) is a network. The language network can be learnable and teachable through generalization, induction, motivation, and attention. In “Spatial language learning and the functional geometric framework” (pp. 114–138), Kenny R. Coventry and Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes examine spatial language, in which languages differ from each other quite unexpectedly. Their theory of a functional geometric framework that can account for this diversity considers three types of information in construing spatial language: geometric relations, dynamic-kinematic routines, and context, which are already available in prelinguistic infants. Comparing English and Spanish, the authors argue that these three types of information also interact during second language acquisition. In “Language without grammar” (pp. 139–167), William O’Grady argues that syntactic mechanisms are identical to the language processing mechanism, left-to-right in real time. From this perspective, he then examines phrase structure, pronoun interpretation, agreement, inversion, and first and second language acquisition by focusing on English. In “Children’s first language acquisition from a usage-based perspective” (pp. 168–196), Elena Lieven and Michael Tomasello examine first language acquisition and argue that children learn their first language from particular utterances in particular contexts, indicating that frequency, consistency, and complexity of linguistic forms affect language learning. The authors support their...

Many philosophers and psychologists have attempted to elucidate the nature of mental representation by appealing to notions like isomorphism or abstract structural resemblance. The ‘structural representations’ that these theorists champion are said to count as representations by virtue of functioning as internal models of distal systems. In his 2007 book, Representation Reconsidered, William Ramsey endorses the structural conception of mental representation, but uses it to develop a novel argument against representationalism, the widespread view that cognition essentially involves the manipulation of mental representations. Ramsey argues that although theories within the ‘classical’ tradition of cognitive science once posited structural representations, these theories are being superseded by newer theories, within the tradition of connectionism and cognitive neuroscience, which rarely if ever appeal to structural representations. Instead, these theories seem to be explaining cognition by invoking so-called ‘receptor representations’, which, Ramsey claims, aren’t genuine representations at all—despite being called representations, these mechanisms function more as triggers or causal relays than as genuine stand-ins for distal systems. I argue that when the notions of structural and receptor representation are properly explicated, there turns out to be no distinction between them. There only appears to be a distinction between receptor and structural representations because the latter are tacitly conflated with the ‘mental models’ ostensibly involved in offline cognitive processes such as episodic memory and mental imagery. While structural representations might count as genuine representations, they aren’t distinctively mental representations, for they can be found in all sorts of non-intentional systems such as plants. Thus to explain the kinds of offline cognitive capacities that have motivated talk of mental models, we must develop richer conceptions of mental representation than those provided by the notions of structural and receptor representation.

In the incessant attempts to overcome second language (L2) acquisition difficulties and to improve second language proficiency, most of the proposed methodological approaches which address this issue place high value on individual vocabulary and grammar of a second language and fall short of integrating lexical phrases/multi-unit expressions into the teaching approaches. This, if does not exacerbate acquisition difficulties, does not by any means improve it. On this view, the ubiquitous interest in lexical phrases gave rise to their investigation in language acquisition. This paper reviews the importance of lexical phrases in language acquisition by providing further insight into their peripheral role in first language and second language acquisition alike. Also, Evidence from neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies are provided to account for lexical phrases representation and brain-adaptability. Further, this paper suggests the implementation of lexical phrases, in general, and the Lexical Approach, in particular, in second language acquisition. Finally, further pedagogical implications as well as self-paced ones are proposed.

Conceptual and Lexical Development in Second Language Acquisition

This study aims to investigate the sociological implications of ChatGPT on language education, focusing on its effects on second language acquisition (SLA).The scope of this qualitative study encompasses the exploration of language learners' and teachers' perceptions and experiences with ChatGPT, examining the benefits, drawbacks, and challenges associated with its use.Using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Framework, the study investigates the intersection of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in language education.Thematic analysis reveals benefits, drawbacks, and challenges associated with ChatGPT, including its impact on learner motivation, engagement, and autonomy.The study highlights the need for effective integration strategies, ongoing support, and critical thinking to maximize the benefits of ChatGPT while minimizing its drawbacks.The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in language education, informing the development of effective and equitable language learning practices.The study's results have implications for language education policy, teacher education, and the design of AI-powered language learning tools.Future recommendations include developing teacher education programs, designing AI-powered language learning tools, conducting large-scale studies, investigating equity and access issues, and developing critical thinking and media literacy skills.A significant research gap exists in understanding the impact of ChatGPT on second language acquisition (SLA).While ChatGPT has been hailed as a revolutionary tool for language learning, its effects on SLA remain understudied (Garca, 2020).This knowledge gap is particularly significant, given the complex and multifaceted nature of SLA, which involves not only linguistic, but also cognitive, affective, and sociocultural factors (Ellis, 2020).A recent study by Lee and Lee (2022) found that AI-powered language learning tools, such as ChatGPT, can have a significant impact on language learners' motivation, engagement, and autonomy.However, the study also highlighted the need for further research on the sociological implications of AI-powered language learning on SLA.This study aims to address this research gap by critically examining the sociological impact of ChatGPT on language education, with a specific focus on its effects on SLA.The study explores the following themes: Language learners' and teachers' perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of using ChatGPT, the impact of ChatGPT on language learners' motivation, engagement, and autonomy, the implications of ChatGPT for language education policy and practice This study employs a qualitative research design, using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the experiences and perceptions of language learners and teachers using ChatGPT.The significance of this study lies in its contribution to a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented by AI-powered language learning.The findings of this study will inform the development of effective and equitable language education practices that harness the potential of ChatGPT while mitigating its risks. Scope of the StudyThe scope of this study encompasses the exploration of language learners' and teachers' perceptions and experiences with ChatGPT, examining the benefits, drawbacks, and challenges associated with its use in language education.

High‐quality lexical representations are important for reading comprehension; however, prior research has focused primarily on the verbal aspects of these lexical representations. In this article, the authors argue for the importance of considering nonverbal representational elements of lexical knowledge and for more systematic attention to how nonverbal supports, such as gestures, pictures, and sounds, contribute to the acquisition of word knowledge. Drawing from various theoretical perspectives, the authors argue that the semantic content and the attention‐directing attributes of nonverbal supports are critical in assisting primary‐grade students in building high‐quality multimodal lexical representations. The authors examined the use of nonverbal supports in vocabulary studies for young learners and present implications about the role of nonverbal supports in students’ vocabulary acquisition. Results suggest that nonverbal scaffolds can help refine and deepen students’ knowledge of words for a variety of word types, including abstract words.

A great majority of people around the world know more than one language. So, how does knowing one language affect the learning and use of additional languages? The question of cross-language influences is the focus of this book. Do bilinguals hear, understand, and produce language and meaning differently because of the languages they speak? How well can theoretical and computational models of language processing and acquisition explain and predict bilingual use patterns and acquisition trajectories? What learner, language, and context characteristics influence bilingual comprehension and production? This book provides a state-of-the-art review and critique of research into cross-language influences in phonology, lexicon, and morphosyntax, and suggests directions for future research. The interdisciplinary nature of the book bridges the gap between research on bilingualism and second language acquisition. The book will be of interest to graduate students, teachers, and researchers in linguistics and second language acquisition, cognitive psychology, and language education.

Second language acquisition plays a significant role in language learning and instruction as the theories and hypotheses in this branch of linguistics provide mentors and learners with an outlook for applying the most appropriate methods for studying. Nonetheless, a distinct perspective supports different methods together with approaches that could complicate the situation. By reviewing the theories of second language acquisition and cognitive linguistics, the writers prove two main roles of cognitive linguistics to the process of acquiring a second language. Thanks to cognitive linguistics, the universal features of absorbing objects in the real world, including languages, could be figured out in another move elsewhere. That is the trigger role of cognitive linguistics for second language learning. Furthermore, explaining theories in mental processes, language instruction, and learning could be highlighted on appropriate methods and approaches for both lecturers and students. However, the researchers raise the concern of role change due to the shift from a conventional classroom to a virtual learning environment. After all, suggestions for bettering pedagogy quality are discussed by the application of cognitive linguistics to second language acquisition for opting for suitable methods and approaches for both instructors and learners.

General Editor's Introduction / Nancy H. Hornberger Introduction to Volume 10: Research Methods in Language and Education / Kendall A. King Contributors Reviewers Section 1: Language, Society and Education 1. Theoretical and Historical Perspectives on Researching the Sociology of Language and Education / Joshua A. Fishman 2. Sociology of Language and Education: Empirical and Global Perspectives / Valerie S. Jakar and Ofra Inbar-Lourie 3. Investigating Language Education Policy / Bernard Spolsky 4. Researching Historical Perspectives on Language, Education and Ideology / Thomas Ricento 5. Survey Methods in Researching Language and Education / Colin Baker 6. Researching Language Loss and Revitalization / Leena Huss Section 2: Language Variation, Acquisition and Education 7. Variationist Approaches to Language and Education / Kirk Hazen 8. Second Language Acquisition Research Methods / Rebekha Abbuhl and Alison Mackey 9. Third Language Acquisition Research Methods / Cristina Sanz and Beatriz Lado 0. Research Perspectives on Bilingualism and Bilingual Education / Li Wei 11. Research Approaches to Narrative, Literacy, and Education / Gigliana Melzi and Margaret Caspe 12. Research Methods in the Study of Gender in Second/Foreign Language Education / Aneta Pavlenko Section 3: Language, Culture, Discourse and Education 13. Ethnography and Language Education / Kelleen Toohey 14. Researching Language Socialization / Paul B. Garrett 15. Discourse Analysis in Educational Research / Doris Warriner 16. Researching Developing Discourses and Competences in Immersion Classrooms / Anne-Marie de Mejia 17. Linguistic Ethnography / Angela Creese 18. Arts-based Approaches to Inquiry in Language Education / Misha Cahnmann Taylor Section 4: Language, Interaction and Education 19. Microethnography in the Classroom / Pedro M. Garcez 20. Code-switching in the Classroom: Research Paradigms and Approaches / Angel M.Y. Lin 21. Language Teacher Research Methods / Manka M. Varghese 22. Research Approaches to the Study of Literacy, Technology and Learning / Ilana Snyder 23. Researching Computer Mediated Communication in Education / Wan Fara Adlina Wan Mansor and Mohamad Hassan Zakaria Subject Index Name Index Cumulative Subject Index Cumulative Name Index Tables of Contents: Volumes 1-10