Studies in Second Language Acquisition最新文献

Twenty-five years ago, the publication of an article by Pallier, Colomé, and Sebastián-Gallés (2001) launched a new and rapidly evolving research program on how second language (L2) learners represent the phonological forms of words in their mental lexicons. Many insights are starting to form an overall picture of the unique difficulties for establishing functional and precise phonolexical representations in L2; however, for the field to move forward it is pertinent to outline its major emerging research questions and existing challenges. Among significant obstacles for further research, the paper explores the current lack of theoretical agreement on the concept of phonolexical representations and the underlying mechanism involved in establishing them, as well as the variable use of the related terminology (e.g., fuzziness and target-likeness). Methodological challenges involved in investigating phonological processing and phonolexical representations as well as their theoretical implications are also discussed. To conclude, we explore the significance of L2-specific phonological representations for the bottom-up lexical access during casual, conversational speech and how our emerging knowledge of L2 lexical representations can be applied in an instructional setting as two potentially fruitful research avenues at the forefront of the current research agenda.

This study investigates how second language (L2) learners engage in prediction based on their processing goals. While prediction is a prominent feature of human sentence comprehension in first–language speakers, it remains less understood when and how L2 learners engage in predictive processing. By conducting a visual–world eye–tracking experiment involving Chinese–speaking L2 learners of Korean, we tested the hypothesis that L2 learners determine whether to engage in prediction by evaluating the costs and benefits of anticipatory processing. The experiment specifically focused on the impact of a top–down comprehension goal for L2 learners’ predictive use of an honorific form in Korean by providing them with different types of task instruction. Our results indicated that all groups engaged in predictive processing in early and entire predictive regions. However, in the late predictive region, L2 learners presented with a prediction–oriented task, but not those with a simple comprehension task, actively generated expectations about the honorific status of an upcoming referent. These findings lend support to the utility account of L2 prediction, suggesting that L2 learners’ engagement in prediction depends on their current goals and strategies for processing efficiency.

The present study aims to meta-analyze the reliability of second language (L2) reading assessments and identify the potential moderators of reliability in L2 reading comprehension tests. We examined 3,247 individual studies for possible inclusion and assessed 353 studies as eligible for the inclusion criteria. Of these, we extracted 150 Cronbach’s alpha estimates from 113 eligible studies (years 1998–2024) that reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficients properly and coded 27 potential predictors comprising of the characteristics of the study, the test, and test takers. We subsequently conducted a reliability generalization (RG) meta-analysis to compute the average reliability coefficient of L2 reading comprehension tests and identify potential moderators from 27 coded predictor variables. The RG meta-analysis found an average reliability of 0.79 (95% CI [0.78, 0.81]). The number of test items, test piloting, test takers’ educational institution, study design, and testing mode were found to respectively explain 16.76%, 5.92%, 4.91%, 2.58%, and 1.36% of variance in reliability coefficients. The implications of this study and future directions are further discussed.

This study closely replicates Wong, Zhao, & MacWhinney (2018), who found that cognitive linguistics–inspired instruction (i.e., schematic diagram feedback) demonstrated a superiority effect over traditional instruction (i.e., rule and exemplar feedback or corrective feedback) on the translation test but not the cloze test. While the original study adopted the null hypothesis testing approach, the current study adopted Bayesian mixed effects logistic models to investigate how different variables might affect the learnability of prepositions among 81 Chinese-speaking learners of English. The research design, materials, and procedure are nearly identical to those of the original study except for an added delayed posttest. Our findings are generally consistent with the results reported in the original study, indicating that the cognitive linguistics–informed instruction demonstrates superiority effect. Furthermore, these positive learning outcomes persist over time, as evidenced by the results of the delayed posttest.

Al-Hoorie et al. (2024: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–23) illuminate a validation crisis within the second language (L2) Motivational Self System (L2MSS), revealing empirical flaws in its current measurement. Their analysis indicates a persistent lack of discriminant validity among the system’s constructs, issuing a fundamental challenge in distinguishing the concepts. These findings, echoing previous concerns, underscore a pressing need for theoretical refinement and methodological rigor within the field, leading the authors to advocate for a temporary halt in L2 self-studies to address these issues comprehensively. This commentary discusses the call for a substantive moratorium presented by Al-Hoorie et al. (2024: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–23) as a necessary step toward resolving persistent challenges in the field. By highlighting historical issues and suggesting pathways for theoretical diversification and methodological advancement, I aim to foster a productive dialogue on motivational psychology in language learning while ensuring empirical robustness.

People are frequently concerned about the impressions they make on others (referred to as metaperceptions), but their insights are often inaccurate. Illustrating the phenomenon called the liking gap, speakers interacting in their first language (L1) and second language (L2) tend to underestimate how much they are liked by their interlocutor, and these judgments often predict their desire to engage in future interaction and collaboration. To understand the scope of this bias and its consequences, we focused on L1–L2 dyadic interaction, examining metaperception as a potential barrier to conversations between university students. We recruited 58 previously unacquainted university students to perform a 10-min academic discussion task between one L1 and one L2 speaker. Afterward, the speakers (a) assessed each other’s interpersonal liking, speaking skill, and interactional behavior; (b) provided their metaperceptions of their interlocutor’s assessments of the same dimensions; and (c) estimated their interest in future interaction with the same interlocutor. All speakers showed a reliable metaperception bias to underestimate their interpersonal liking, speaking skill, and interactional behavior. However, only L1 speakers’ desire to engage in future interaction was associated with their metaperceptions of interpersonal liking. We discuss implications of this finding for understanding and promoting academic communication.

Is it possible to acquire a sensitivity to a regularity in language without intending to and without awareness of what it is? In this conceptual replication and extension of an earlier study (Williams, 2005) participants were trained on a semiartificial language in which determiner choice was dependent on noun animacy. Participants who did not report awareness or recognition of this rule were nevertheless above chance at selecting the correct determiner in novel contexts. However, further analyses based on trial-by-trial subjective judgments and item similarity statistics were consistent with the possibility that responses were based on conscious feelings of familiarity or analogy to trained items rather than unconscious knowledge of a semantic generalization. The results are discussed in terms of instance-based approaches to memory and language, and the implications for the concept of “learning without awareness” are considered.

Considering the undeniable importance of examining the role of domain- and skill-specific individual difference factors in second-language (L2) writing research, this study examined the possible roles of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ ideal L2 writing self and growth L2 writing mindset in their L2 writing grit, which may in turn contribute to their L2 writing achievement (WA). Data were collected from 532 English-major students selected via convenience sampling by administering a questionnaire to measure their growth L2 writing mindset, ideal L2 writing self, and L2 writing grit. The International English-Language Testing System (IELTS) academic writing tasks 1 and 2 were used as measures of the learners’ L2 WA. The psychometric properties of the scales were investigated and verified through confirmatory factor analyses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results revealed that ideal L2 writing self and L2 writing grit directly predicted L2 WA. Additionally, growth L2 writing mindset and ideal L2 writing self predicted L2 WA through the mediation of L2 writing grit. This study highlighted the importance of domain- and skill-specific individual difference factors in L2 WA and the vital necessity of considering them in L2 writing instruction.