Differences In L2 Proficiency Research Articles

Effects of healthy ageing and bilingualism on attention networks

Abstract Both ageing and bilingualism can have positive as well as adverse cognitive effects. We investigated their combined impact on subcomponents of attention. We used the Attention Network Task to examine alerting, orienting, executive control and task-switching costs. Group comparisons revealed age-related declines for alerting alongside benefits for executive control, for mono- and bilinguals alike. For orienting, age-related decline was more pronounced for bilinguals than monolinguals. Task-switching was unaffected by age or language group. Within bilinguals, we found limited impact of individual differences in L2 proficiency, language switching or mixing: proficiency improves orienting and decreases switch costs, for young and older bilinguals alike; but no other individual differences effects were found. Thus, attention is a multi-faceted network, with clear adverse (alerting) and protective (executive control) ageing effects. We found these to be largely similar for mono- and bilinguals, with variability within bilinguals having only limited impact.

What second-language speakers can tell us about pragmatic processing.

Upon hearing the phrase Some cats meow, a listener might pragmatically infer that ‘Some but not all cats meow’. This is known as a scalar implicature and it often arises when a speaker produces a weak linguistic expression instead of a stronger one. Several L2 studies claim that pragmatic inferences are generated by default and their comprehension presents no challenges to L2 learners. However, the evidence obtained from these studies largely stems from offline-based tasks that provide limited information about how scalar implicatures are processed. This study investigated scalar implicature processing among L2 speakers of English and the degree to which differences in L2 proficiency and Theory of Mind abilities would modulate pragmatic responding. The experiment used an online sentence verification paradigm that required participants to judge, among multiple control items, the veracity of under-informative sentences, such as Some cats are mammals, and to respond as quickly as possible. A true response to this item is indicative of a logical some and perhaps all reading and a false response to a pragmatic some but not all reading. Our results showed evidence that scalar inferences are not generated by default. The answer linked to the pragmatic reading some but not all took significantly longer to make relative to the answer that relies on the logical interpretation some and perhaps all. This processing slowdown was also significantly larger among participants with lower English proficiency. Further exploratory analyses of participants’ Theory of Mind, as measured by the Social Skill subscale in the Autism Spectrum Quotient, revealed that socially inclined participants are more likely than the socially disinclined to derive a scalar inference. These results together provide new empirical insights into how L2 learners process scalar implicatures and thus implications for processing theories in experimental pragmatics and second language acquisition.

Individual differences predict ERP signatures of second language learning of novel grammatical rules

We investigated the extent to which second-language (L2) learning is influenced by the similarity of grammatical features in one's first language (L1). We used event-related potentials to identify neural signatures of a novel grammatical rule – grammatical gender – in L1 English speakers. Of interest was whether individual differences in L2 proficiency and age of acquisition (AoA) influenced these effects. L2 and native speakers of French read French sentences that were grammatically correct, or contained either a grammatical gender or word order violation. Proficiency and AoA predicted Left Anterior Negativity amplitude, with structure violations driving the proficiency effect and gender violations driving the AoA effect. Proficiency, group, and AoA predicted P600 amplitude for gender violations but not structure violations. Different effects of grammatical gender and structure violations indicate that L2 speakers engage novel grammatical processes differently from L1 speakers and that this varies appreciably based on both AoA and proficiency.

Second Language Proficiency and Cross‐Language Lexical Activation

Although research has consistently shown that a bilingual's two languages interact on multiple levels, it is also well‐established that bilinguals can vary considerably in their proficiency in the second language (L2). In this paper we review empirical studies that have examined how differences in L2 proficiency modulate cross‐language co‐activation and interaction during bilingual lexical processing. We review studies investigating cognate and homograph processing in visual word perception and word production, auditory word perception using the visual world paradigm, and cross‐language priming, focusing specifically on how differences in proficiency modulate co‐activation during lexical access. We further discuss differences in L2 proficiency in relation to immersion and age of L2 acquisition, how differences in L2 proficiency relate to neurocognitive aspects of cognitive control, and how changes in L2 proficiency relative to L1 proficiency may affect lexical processing.

Do L1 Reading Achievement and L1 Print Exposure Contribute to the Prediction of L2 Proficiency?

The study examined whether individual differences in high school first language (L1) reading achievement and print exposure would account for unique variance in second language (L2) written (word decoding, spelling, writing, reading comprehension) and oral (listening/speaking) proficiency after adjusting for the effects of early L1 literacy and verbal skills, cognitive ability in L1, and L2 aptitude. Participants were administered measures of L1 word decoding, spelling, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and cognitive ability in 1st through 5th grades; L2 aptitude in 9th grade; and L1 reading achievement, L1 print exposure, and L2 proficiency in 10th grade. The findings showed that L1 reading achievement in 10th grade made significant and unique contributions to L2 word decoding, L2 reading comprehension, L2 listening/speaking, and overall L2 proficiency after adjusting for the effects of L1 literacy and verbal skills, cognitive ability in L1, and L2 aptitude. Subsequent analyses showed that L1 print exposure variables made unique contributions to L2 reading comprehension, L2 decoding, L2 writing, L2 listening/speaking, and overall L2 proficiency even after adjusting for the effects of L1 literacy and verbal skills during elementary school, cognitive ability in L1, L2 aptitude, and 10th‐grade reading achievement. The results suggest that stronger L1 reading skills are related to stronger L2 outcomes and that opportunity for and engagement in L1 literacy experiences may also be related to differences in L2 proficiency.

Inhibitory Control and L2 Proficiency Modulate Bilingual Language Production: Evidence from Spontaneous Monologue and Dialogue Speech

Bilingual language production requires that speakers recruit inhibitory control (IC) to optimally balance the activation of more than one linguistic system when they produce speech. Moreover, the amount of IC necessary to maintain an optimal balance is likely to vary across individuals as a function of second language (L2) proficiency and inhibitory capacity, as well as the demands of a particular communicative situation. Here, we investigate how these factors relate to bilingual language production across monologue and dialogue spontaneous speech. In these tasks, 42 English–French and French–English bilinguals produced spontaneous speech in their first language (L1) and their L2, with and without a conversational partner. Participants also completed a separate battery that assessed L2 proficiency and inhibitory capacity. The results showed that L2 vs. L1 production was generally more effortful, as was dialogue vs. monologue speech production although the clarity of what was produced was higher for dialogues vs. monologues. As well, language production effort significantly varied as a function of individual differences in L2 proficiency and inhibitory capacity. Taken together, the overall pattern of findings suggests that both increased L2 proficiency and inhibitory capacity relate to efficient language production during spontaneous monologue and dialogue speech.

Perception of Paralinguistic Intonational Meaning in a Second Language

Recent studies of paralinguistic intonational meaning show that languages differ systematically in how pitch range is used to signal meaning differences, contra previous claims. This poses an additional challenge to second language learners, who generally receive little tutoring on intonation. This study investigates learners' competence and strategies in the perception of paralinguistic intonational meaning by examining the perception of “emphatic” and “surprised” as signaled by pitch range and related variables in two learner groups (L1‐Dutch/L2‐English, L1‐English/L2‐Dutch). Results show that transfer plays a considerably larger role in L2 English learners than in L2 Dutch learners. Both learner groups also operate on their knowledge of L2 intonation but in different form‐meaning relations. These differences are explained by differences in L2 proficiency, the nature of L2 input, and the salience of form‐meaning relations in L2.

Using Activity Theory to Explain Differences in Patterns of Dyadic Interactions in an ESL Class

Variations in how L2 learners work in pairs/groups have been noted by a number of researchers. However, explanations for such variations are often made in terms of differences in L2 proficiency or culture. What has often been overlooked is the participants' orientation to an activity and, in particular, their motives and goals. The importance of human motives and goals in explaining human behaviour is encapsulated in activity theory (Leont'ev, 1981). It is this theoretical perspective that guided the study reported in this article. The study attempted to explain variations found in the ways students interacted in pairs in a university ESL class. The data consist of interviews with eight participants who formed four case study pairs, each case exemplifying a distinct pattern of dyadic interaction. The findings suggest that patterns of dyadic interaction can be traced to the nature of the participants' goals and to whether or not members of the dyad share these goals.

MODELING PERCEPTIONS OF THE ACCENTEDNESS AND COMPREHENSIBILITY OF L2 SPEECH The Role of Speaking Rate

In much previous research, listeners' rating data have served as a dependent variable to demonstrate the effects of age of learning, length of residence, and motivation on L2 users' degree of foreign accent. However, the role of speaking rate in such judgments has not been ascertained. To gain new insight into this relationship, we carried out two experiments involving sentence-length utterances produced by English L2 users. In the first, we observed a significant curvilinear relationship between speaking rates and accentedness and comprehensibility judgments of utterances produced by users from a variety of L1 backgrounds. In the second experiment, by manipulating rates with speech compression-expansion software, we established that this effect was due to the rate differences themselves, rather than to differences in L2 proficiency that might co-vary with rate. In both experiments the listeners tended to assign the highest ratings to L2 speech that was somewhat faster than the rates generally used by L2 users; however, both very fast and very slow speech tended to be less highly rated. Researchers who use listener rating data should be mindful of the potential confounding effect of speaking rate in their data.

Individual differences in L2 proficiency as a function of L1 proficiency

Abstract This paper offers an illustration of the claim that some individual differences in a second language (L2) can be accounted for by individual differeaces in the first language (L1). Two studies are reported, which examined L2 performance as a function of L1 performance. In the fmt study, 65 Dutch learners of English performed reading aloud tasks in L2 (Englrsh) and L1 (Dutch). In the second study, 50 Turkish lcarners of Dutch performed reading comprehension tasks in L2 (Dutch) and L1 (Turkish) as well as L2 vocabulary and grammar tests. The results of the ht study, obtained by means of co-variance analyses, show that most of the differences in L2 performance due to grade level (grade 9 vs 11) and academic level (higher vs lower) disappeared when performance in L1 WBS taken into account. The results of the second study, obtained by means of correlational techniques, provide support for the involvement of both an L2-spcafic (vocabulary and grammar) and a non-L2-sptcific component (as indicated by L1...