Abstract
In bilingual studies, repetition priming across languages or translation priming can be used to examine themental representations of bilingual lexicon and language in memory. Motivated to demonstrate the effects ofdividing attention during implicit retrieval of L2 spoken words, we investigated the nature of the processesinvolved in translation priming. In so doing, we used behavioral measures (i.e. reaction time and accuracy) tostudy 60 Persian-English unbalanced proficient bilinguals performing translation priming in two languagedirections under two attention conditions. The present study compared a divided attention (DA) condition, inwhich participants carried out the priming task in auditory modality while simultaneously performing asecondary task in visual modality, and a full attention (FA) condition, in which participants performed only thepriming task. We also examined secondary tasks costs produced by memory tests. Despite significant primingeffects and symmetrical pattern of translation priming in the FA condition, translation priming effects in L2-to-L1direction were absent in the DA condition. The secondary task was disrupted by memory test in this direction aswell. The paper ends with discussion on the role of attention in L2 spoken word processing and languagedirection in translation priming in light of models of bilingual memory.
Highlights
In psycholinguistic research into bilingualism, repetition priming across languages or translation priming have been used to examine the mental representations of bilingual lexicon
Despite significant priming effects and symmetrical pattern of translation priming in the full attention (FA) condition, translation priming effects in L2-to-L1 direction were absent in the divided attention (DA) condition
The paper ends with discussion on the role of attention in L2 spoken word processing and language direction in translation priming in light of models of bilingual memory
Summary
In psycholinguistic research into bilingualism, repetition priming across languages or translation priming have been used to examine the mental representations of bilingual lexicon. Translation priming is an experimental procedure where a target (e.g. sky) is preceded by its translation in another language (e.g. âsemân in Persian) resulting in facilitated processing. The occurrence of such facilitation indicates that the two words in a translation pair share the same underlying representation, suggesting language integration. Regarding the language direction effects, translation priming studies have revealed contradictory findings. De Groot, Dannenburg, & Van Hell, 1994; La Heij, Hooglander, Kerling, & Van der Velden, 1996) suggested that language direction has no significant effect on translation and some others Some studies (e.g. De Groot, Dannenburg, & Van Hell, 1994; La Heij, Hooglander, Kerling, & Van der Velden, 1996) suggested that language direction has no significant effect on translation and some others (e.g. De Groot & Poot, 1997; Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2009) obtained facilitatory effect of translation priming direction is L1-L2
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