Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:41:51.082Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SOURCES OF VARIATION IN SECOND AND NATIVE LANGUAGE SPEAKING PROFICIENCY AMONG COLLEGE-AGED SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2021

Mona Roxana Botezatu Open the ORCID record for Mona Roxana Botezatu [Opens in a new window] ,
Taomei Guo ,
Judith F. Kroll ,
Sarah Peterson  and
Dalia L. Garcia
Mona Roxana Botezatu*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
Taomei Guo
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
Judith F. Kroll
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Sarah Peterson
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
Dalia L. Garcia
Affiliation:
San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, Joint Doctoral Program in Language & Communicative Disorders
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mona Roxana Botezatu, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, School of Health Professions, 420 Lewis Hall, Columbia, Missouri 65211 E-mail: botezatum@health.missouri.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We evaluated external and internal sources of variation in second language (L2) and native language (L1) proficiency among college students. One hundred and twelve native-English L2 learners completed measures of L1 and L2 speaking proficiency, working memory, and cognitive control and provided self-ratings of language exposure and use. When considering learner-external variation, we found that more frequent L2 exposure predicted higher L2 and L1 proficiency, while earlier L2 exposure predicted higher L2 proficiency, but poorer L1 maintenance. L1–L2 distance limited crosslinguistic transfer of print-to-sound mappings. When considering learner-internal variation, we found that L1 and L2 proficiency were highly correlated and that better working memory, but not cognitive control, accounted for additional variance in L2 and L1 proficiency. More frequent L2 exposure was associated with better cognitive control.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , May 2022 , pp. 305 - 330
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by a Catalyst Award and a Richard Wallace Faculty Incentive Grant from the University of Missouri and an Advancing Academic-Research Careers Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to MRB, as well as by grant 31871097 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to TG. We would like to thank Kathleen Acord, Madison Backes, Ashley Bramer, Jennifer Calvin, Sierra Cheung, Sierra Clemetson, Sarah D’Amico, Ryley Ewy, Laura Fry, Madison Hinmon, Jaclyn Johnson, Zeping Liu, Hanna Lowther, Sarah Marx, Carlos Martinez Villar, Allie Mitan, Xi Ren, Istvan Romhany, Morgan Trachsel, Jason Wong, No-Ya Yu, and Qiming Yuan for help with data collection and coding.

References

REFERENCES

Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. W. (2008). Control mechanisms in bilingual language production: Neural evidence from language switching studies. Language & Cognitive Processes, 23, 557–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working Memory. Clarendon Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 417–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In Bower, G. H. (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Barcroft, J. (2007). Effects of opportunities for word retrieval during second language vocabulary learning. Language Learning: A Journal of Research in Language Studies, 57, 35–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartolotti, J., & Marian, V. (2012). Language learning and control in monolinguals and bilinguals. Cognitive Science, 36, 1129–1147.Google ScholarPubMed
Bartolotti, J., Marian, V., Schroeder, S. R., & Shook, A. (2011). Bilingualism and inhibitory control influence statistical learning of novel word forms. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beatty-Martínez, A., Navarro-Torres, C., Dussias, P., Bajo, M. T., Guzzardo Tamargo, R., & Kroll, J. (2020). Interactional context mediates the consequences of bilingualism for language and cognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 46, 1022–1047. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000770 Google ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F., & Luk, G. (2008). Lexical access in bilinguals: Effects of vocabulary size and executive control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21, 522–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45, 459–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bice, K., & Kroll, J. (2019). English only? Monolinguals in linguistically diverse contexts have an edge in language learning. Brain and Language, 196, 104644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botezatu, M. R., Kroll, J. F., Trachsel, M., & Guo, T. (in press). Second language immersion impacts native language lexical production and comprehension. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.19059 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E. (2009). Effects of age of L2 acquisition on L1 event conceptualization patterns. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 305–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113, 135–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowan, N. (1988). Evolving conceptions of memory storage, selective attention, and their mutual constraints within the human information processing system. Psychological Bulletin, 104, 163–191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowan, N. (1995). Attention and memory: An integrated framework. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Cowan, N. (2017). Working memory: The information you are now thinking of. In Wixted, J. T. (Ed.), Cognitive psychology of memory (2nd ed., pp. 147–161). Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M. (1991). Working memory as a predictor of verbal fluency. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 20, 445–464.Google Scholar
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16, 143–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T., Montoya, R., Cera, C., & Sandoval, T. (2008). More use almost always means a smaller frequency effect: Aging, bilingualism, and the weaker links hypothesis. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 787–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Weissberger, G. H., Runnqvist, E., Montoya, R. I., & Cera, C. M. (2012). Self-ratings of spoken language dominance: A multilingual naming test (MINT) and preliminary norms for young and aging Spanish-English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 594–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodglass, H., & Kaplan, E. (1983). The assessment of aphasia and related disorders (2nd ed.). Lea & Febiger.Google Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 515–530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grey, S., Cox, J., Serafini, E. J., & Sanz, C. (2015). The role of individual differences in the study abroad context: Cognitive capacity and language development during short-term intensive language exposure. The Modern Language Journal, 99, 137–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, T., Liu, H., Misra, M., & Kroll, J. F. (2011). Local and global inhibition in bilingual word production: fMRI evidence from Chinese–English bilinguals. NeuroImage, 56, 2300–2309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higby, E., Donnelly, S., Yoon, J., & Obler, L. K. (2020). The effect of second-language vocabulary on word retrieval in the native language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23, 812–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofweber, J., Marinis, T., & Treffers-Daller, J. (2016). Effects of dense code-switching on executive control. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6, 648–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, K. M. (2009). Aptitude, phonological memory, and second language proficiency in nonnovice adult learners. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 30, 225–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivanova, I., & Costa, A. (2007). Does bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production? Acta Psychologica, 127, 277–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jared, D., & Kroll, J. F. (2001). Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 2–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Juffs, A. (2005). The influence of first language on the processing of wh-movement in English as a second language. Second Language Research, 21, 121–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, 137–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review, 99, 122–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kang, C., Fu, Y., Wu, J., Ma, F., Lu, C., & Guo, T. (2017). Short‐term language switching training tunes the neural correlates of cognitive control in bilingual language production. Human Brain Mapping, 38, 5859–5870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kang, S. H. K., Gollan, T., & Pashler, H. (2013). Don’t just repeat after me: Retrieval practice is better than imitation for foreign vocabulary learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 1259–1265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapa, L. L., & Colombo, J. (2014). Executive function predicts artificial language learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 76, 237–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapnoula, E. C., & McMurray, B. (2016). Training alters the resolution of lexical interference: Evidence for plasticity of competition and inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 8–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kertesz, A. (1982). Western aphasia battery. Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Keuleers, E., Stevens, M., Mandera, P., & Brysbaert, M. (2015). Word knowledge in the crowd: Measuring vocabulary size and word prevalence in a massive online experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68, 1665–1692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kormos, J., & Sáfár, A. (2008). Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 261–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., & Hoshino, N. (2014). Two languages in mind: Bilingualism as a tool to investigate language, cognition, and the brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 159–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., Misra, M., & Guo, T. (2008). Language selection in bilingual speech: Evidence for inhibitory processes. Acta Psychologica, 128, 416–430.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., Bice, K., & Perrotti, L. (2015). Bilingualism, mind, and brain. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1, 377–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., Spalek, K., & Schriefers, H. (2008). Cross-language effects of grammatical gender in bilingual word recognition and production. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 312–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, B. J., McVeigh, N. D., Marful, A., & Anderson, M. C. (2007). Inhibiting your native language: The role of retrieval-induced forgetting during second-language acquisition. Psychological Science, 18, 29–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linck, J. A., Hughes, M. M., Campbell, S. G., Silbert, N. H., Tare, M., Jackson, S. R., & Doughty, C. J. (2013). Hi‐LAB: A new measure of aptitude for high‐level language proficiency. Language Learning, 63, 530–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linck, J. A., Kroll, J. F., & Sunderman, G. (2009). Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language: Evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychological Science, 20, 1507–1515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linck, J. A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J. T., & Bunting, M. F. (2014). Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis. Pschonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 861–883.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linck, J. A., & Weiss, D. J. (2015). Can working memory and inhibitory control predict second language learning in the classroom? SAGE Open, 5, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, L., Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2010). Effect of language proficiency and executive control on verbal fluency performance in bilinguals. Cognition, 114, 29–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luque, A. & Morgan-Short, K. (2021). The relationship between cognitive control and second language proficiency. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 57, 100956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malt, B. C. (2020). Understanding L2 word learning outcomes: The roles of semantic relations, input, and language dissimilarity. International Journal of Bilingualism, 24, 478–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The language experience and proficiency questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 50, 940–967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marian, V., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). Cross-linguistic transfer and borrowing in bilinguals. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 28, 369–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, K., & Ellis, N. (2012). The roles of phonological short-term memory and working memory in L2 grammar and vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34, 379–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. F., Heilmann, J., Nockerts, A., Iglesias, A., Fabiano, L., & Francis, D. J. (2006). Oral language and reading in bilingual children. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 21, 30–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Misra, M., Guo, T., Bobb, S. C., & Kroll, J. F. (2012). When bilinguals choose a single word to speak: Electrophysiological evidence for inhibition of the native language. Journal of Memory and Language, 67, 224–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morales, J., Gómez-Ariza, C. J., & Bajo, M. T. (2013). Dual mechanisms of cognitive control in bilinguals and monolinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 531–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Namaziandost, E., Sawalmeh, M. H. M., & Soltanabadi, M. I. (2020). The effects of spaced versus massed distribution instruction on EFL learners’ vocabulary recall and retention. Cogent Education, 7, 1792261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholas, L. E., & Brookshire, R. H. (1993). A system for quantifying the informativeness and efficiency of the connected speech of adults with aphasia. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 36, 338–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paap, K. R., & Greenberg, Z. I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive Psychology, 66, 232–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pivneva, I., Palmer, C., & Titone, D. (2012). Inhibitory control and L2 proficiency modulate bilingual language production: Evidence from spontaneous monologue and dialogue speech. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Psychology Software Tools Incorporated. (2012). E-Prime. http://www.pstnet.com Google Scholar
Qualtrics. (2019). Qualtrics. https://www.qualtrics.com Google Scholar
R Development Core Team. (2016). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/ Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2001). Individual differences, cognitive abilities, aptitude complexes and learning conditions in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 17, 368–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Krämer, U. M., Lorenzo-Seva, U., Festman, J., & Münte, T. F. (2012). Self-assessment of individual differences in language switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sagarra, N. (2017). Longitudinal effects of working memory on L2 grammar and reading abilities. Second Language Research, 33, 341–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saito, K., Macmillan, K., Mai, T., Suzukida, Y., Sun, H., Magne, V., & Murakami, A. (2020). Developing, analyzing and sharing multivariate datasets: Individual differences in L2 learning revisited. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 9–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saito, K., & Munro, M. (2014). The early phase of /r/ production development in adult Japanese learners of English. Language and Speech, 57, 451–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M. S., & Yilmaz, G. (2018). Predictors of language dominance: An integrated analysis of first language attrition and second language acquisition in late bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Serafini, E. J., & Sanz, C. (2016). Evidence for the decreasing impact of cognitive ability on second language development as proficiency increases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 607–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serrano, R., Llanes, A., & Tragant, E. (2011). Analyzing the effect of context on second language learning: Domestic intensive and semi-intensive courses vs. study abroad in Europe. System, 39, 133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. R., & Rudell, A. P. (1967). Auditory S-R compatibility: The effect of an irrelevant cue on information processing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 51, 300–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skehan, P. (2002). Theorizing and updating aptitude. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Individual differences and structured language learning (pp. 69–93). Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparks, R. L., Patton, J., & Luebbers, J. (2019). Individual differences in L2 achievement mirror individual differences in L1 skills and L2 aptitude: Crosslinguistic transfer of L1 to L2 skills. Foreign Language Annals, 52, 255–283.Google Scholar
Spivey, M. J., & Marian, V. (1999). Cross talk between native and second languages: Partial activation of an irrelevant lexicon. Psychological Science, 10, 281–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. (2009). When study abroad experience fails to deliver: The internal resources threshold effect. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 30, 79–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swanson, H. L. (2015). Growth in working memory and inhibition predicts literacy in English language learners: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Memory, 23, 748–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tagarelli, K. M., Mota, M. B., & Rebuschat, P. (2011). The role of working memory in implicit and explicit language learning. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 33, 2061–2066.Google Scholar
Tolentino, L. C., & Tokowicz, N. (2014). Cross‐language similarity modulates effectiveness of second language grammar instruction. Language Learning, 64, 279–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., & Rashotte, C. A. (1999). Test of word reading efficiency. PRO-ED.Google Scholar
Turner, M. L., & Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent? Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 127–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Buuren, S., & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, K. (2010). mice: Multivariate imputation by chained equations in R. Journal of Statistical Software, 45, 1–68.Google Scholar
Van Hell, J., & Dijkstra, T. (2002). Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 780–789.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitford, V., & Titone, D. (2012). Second-language experience modulates first- and second-language word frequency effects: Evidence from eye movement measures of natural paragraph reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 73–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, C. (2013). An investigation of working memory effects on oral grammatical accuracy and fluency in producing questions in English. TESOL Quarterly, 47, 352–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeni-Komshian, G. H., Flege, J. E., & Liu, S. (2000). Pronunciation proficiency in the first and second languages of Korean–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 131–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar