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The interplay of learners’ cognitive abilities in the learning and automatization of miniature language grammar

What matters beyond general IQ?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2025

Małgorzata Foryś-Nogala Open the ORCID record for Małgorzata Foryś-Nogala [Opens in a new window] ,
Olga Broniś Open the ORCID record for Olga Broniś [Opens in a new window]  and
Aleksandra Janczarska Open the ORCID record for Aleksandra Janczarska [Opens in a new window]
Małgorzata Foryś-Nogala*
Affiliation:
University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Poland
Olga Broniś
Affiliation:
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland
Aleksandra Janczarska
Affiliation:
University of Warsaw, Poland
*
Corresponding author: Małgorzata Foryś-Nogala; E-mail: m.forys-nogala@vizja.pl
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Abstract

This study focused on the relative contributions of cognitive aptitudes to the incidental learning and automatization of mini-language grammar. Over three sessions, participants (N = 45; first language [L1] Polish; age range: 19–35) completed computerized training in MiniItaliano as well as tasks tapping into working memory, general intelligence, and language analytic ability (LAA). The overt aim of the training was to comprehend messages placed in the context of an Italian supermarket; however, its actual goal was to acquire the target syntactic rules (i.e., subject-verb agreement, gender agreement, word order). The final session included a surprise post-test with untimed and timed grammaticality judgment tasks (GJTs) as measures of explicit and automatized knowledge, respectively. Results showed that performance on both tasks was predicted by LAA over and above other cognitive and control measures. Additionally, scores on the untimed GJTs were related to reliance on (self-discovered) rules, while timed GJTs involved general IQ.

Keywords

automatized knowledgeexplicit knowledgegeneral nonverbal IQlanguage analytic abilityworking memory
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , First View , pp. 1 - 25
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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