Lars Hoffmann, Raphaela Porsch, Stefan Schipolowski
This study examines the potential effects of language stays abroad, specifically student exchanges and language courses, on the foreign language proficiency of lower secondary students, in particular on their listening and reading comprehension. Using data from a nationwide, large‐scale study on German high school students (academic school track) in Year 9, we focused on students who learned either English ( n = 13,073) or French ( n = 3,261) as their first foreign language. To account for selectivity bias, we estimated the effects of student exchanges and language courses on the receptive language skills by employing propensity score matching, controlling for a comprehensive set of covariates. Our results indicate that student exchanges significantly enhance foreign language proficiency in both languages, especially in listening comprehension. The effects were more pronounced for French learners than for English learners. No significant results were found for language courses.
{"title":"Effects of Early Language Stays Abroad on the Foreign Language Proficiency of German High School Students","authors":"Lars Hoffmann, Raphaela Porsch, Stefan Schipolowski","doi":"10.1111/lang.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70023","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the potential effects of language stays abroad, specifically student exchanges and language courses, on the foreign language proficiency of lower secondary students, in particular on their listening and reading comprehension. Using data from a nationwide, large‐scale study on German high school students (academic school track) in Year 9, we focused on students who learned either English ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 13,073) or French ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 3,261) as their first foreign language. To account for selectivity bias, we estimated the effects of student exchanges and language courses on the receptive language skills by employing propensity score matching, controlling for a comprehensive set of covariates. Our results indicate that student exchanges significantly enhance foreign language proficiency in both languages, especially in listening comprehension. The effects were more pronounced for French learners than for English learners. No significant results were found for language courses.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dimitra‐Maria Kandia, Angela D. Friederici, Jutta L. Mueller, Claudia Männel
Parallel tracking of distant relations between speech elements, so‐called nonadjacent dependencies (NADs), is crucial in language development but computationally demanding and acquired only in late preschool years. As processing of single NADs is facilitated when dependent elements are perceptually similar, we investigated how phonetic similarity affects parallel dependency processing in preschoolers (2–4 years old, N = 54). In a passive‐listening electrophysiology study, children heard syllable sequences with nested dependencies of the form [A 1 [A 2 C B 2 ] B 1 ], with A i predicting B i . Across sequences, either the inner, the outer, or both NADs were phonetically similar. Additional deviant sequences violated the dependencies by exchanging the last two syllables. Independent of age, children showed electrophysiological mismatch responses to dependency violations, but only when either outer or inner NADs were phonetically marked. This suggests that phonetic similarity can aid preschoolers in parallel dependency processing, but only if marking is distinctive in the linguistic structure.
言语元素之间的距离关系的并行跟踪，即所谓的非相邻依赖关系（NADs），在语言发展中是至关重要的，但计算要求很高，只有在学龄前后期才能获得。由于依赖元素在知觉上相似时促进了单个nad的加工，我们研究了语音相似度对学龄前儿童（2-4岁，N = 54）平行依赖加工的影响。在一项被动聆听电生理学研究中，儿童听到的音节序列具有嵌套的依赖关系[a1 [a2 C b2] b1]，其中a1预示着b1。在整个序列中，内部、外部或两个nad在语音上相似。额外的偏差序列通过交换最后两个音节违反了依赖关系。与年龄无关，儿童对依赖违反表现出电生理不匹配反应，但仅当外部或内部nad被语音标记时。这表明语音相似性可以帮助学龄前儿童进行平行依赖处理，但前提是标记在语言结构上是独特的。
{"title":"Effective When Distinctive: The Role of Phonetic Similarity in Nested Dependency Learning Across Preschool Years","authors":"Dimitra‐Maria Kandia, Angela D. Friederici, Jutta L. Mueller, Claudia Männel","doi":"10.1111/lang.70022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70022","url":null,"abstract":"Parallel tracking of distant relations between speech elements, so‐called nonadjacent dependencies (NADs), is crucial in language development but computationally demanding and acquired only in late preschool years. As processing of single NADs is facilitated when dependent elements are perceptually similar, we investigated how phonetic similarity affects parallel dependency processing in preschoolers (2–4 years old, <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 54). In a passive‐listening electrophysiology study, children heard syllable sequences with nested dependencies of the form [A <jats:sub>1</jats:sub> [A <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> C B <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> ] B <jats:sub>1</jats:sub> ], with A <jats:sub>i</jats:sub> predicting B <jats:sub>i</jats:sub> . Across sequences, either the inner, the outer, or both NADs were phonetically similar. Additional deviant sequences violated the dependencies by exchanging the last two syllables. Independent of age, children showed electrophysiological mismatch responses to dependency violations, but only when either outer or inner NADs were phonetically marked. This suggests that phonetic similarity can aid preschoolers in parallel dependency processing, but only if marking is distinctive in the linguistic structure.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145785789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We report three expression–picture‐matching experiments targeting preschoolers’ semantic processing. We assessed whether 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds’ interpretations of ambiguous novel noun–noun combinations (e.g., hedgehog pillow ) were affected by immediate language experience and what role lexical items played in this process. Experiment 1 demonstrated robust relational priming when prime and target combinations shared the same thematic relation with either head or modifier repetition. Experiment 2 showed inconclusive results when prime and target involved different heads and modifiers. Experiment 3 confirmed that priming was independent of visual similarities. Our results suggest that preschoolers have strong lexically dependent semantic representations that can be facilitated through individual experiences of language, though evidence is inconclusive regarding whether abstract semantic representations are stable at this age. This pattern is compatible with an adult model of lexico‐syntactic and semantic processing (Raffray et al., 2007), suggesting that usage‐based accounts of children's syntactic development might be straightforwardly extended to semantic development.
本文报道了三个针对学龄前儿童语义加工的表情-图片匹配实验。我们评估了3岁和4岁儿童对模棱两可的新奇名词-名词组合（如刺猬枕头）的解释是否受到即时语言经验的影响，以及词汇项目在这一过程中发挥了什么作用。实验1表明，当启动词和目标词的组合具有相同的主位关系时，无论是头词还是修饰语重复都具有显著的关联启动效应。实验2表明，当启动和目标涉及不同的词头和修饰语时，结果不确定。实验3证实了启动与视觉相似性无关。我们的研究结果表明，学龄前儿童有很强的词汇依赖性语义表征，这可以通过个人语言经验来促进，尽管关于抽象语义表征在这个年龄段是否稳定的证据还不确定。这种模式与成人的词汇句法和语义处理模型是兼容的（Raffray et al., 2007），这表明基于使用的儿童句法发展的描述可以直接扩展到语义发展。
{"title":"Hedgehog Pillows and Squirrel Plates: Priming Semantic Structure in Children's Comprehension","authors":"Judit Fazekas, Leone Buckle, Holly Branigan","doi":"10.1111/lang.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70020","url":null,"abstract":"We report three expression–picture‐matching experiments targeting preschoolers’ semantic processing. We assessed whether 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds’ interpretations of ambiguous novel noun–noun combinations (e.g., <jats:italic>hedgehog pillow</jats:italic> ) were affected by immediate language experience and what role lexical items played in this process. Experiment 1 demonstrated robust relational priming when prime and target combinations shared the same thematic relation with either head or modifier repetition. Experiment 2 showed inconclusive results when prime and target involved different heads and modifiers. Experiment 3 confirmed that priming was independent of visual similarities. Our results suggest that preschoolers have strong lexically dependent semantic representations that can be facilitated through individual experiences of language, though evidence is inconclusive regarding whether abstract semantic representations are stable at this age. This pattern is compatible with an adult model of lexico‐syntactic and semantic processing (Raffray et al., 2007), suggesting that usage‐based accounts of children's syntactic development might be straightforwardly extended to semantic development.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"115 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145673881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This replication study examines feedback timing in vocational language learners and verifies the hypothesis that the advantage of immediate over delayed feedback found in the original study (Li, Zhu, & Ellis, 2016) is due to practice opportunities in immediate feedback. Participants were 186 first‐year ESL learners at a vocational college. Four experimental groups performed two dictogloss tasks and received immediate feedback (during tasks), delayed feedback (after both tasks), interim feedback (between tasks), or no feedback (task only) on their wrong use of the English passive voice. A fifth (control) group received no instructional treatment. Results showed an advantage for interim over delayed feedback for explicit knowledge on the immediate posttest, comparable performance for interim and immediate feedback, and no notable gains in implicit knowledge for any group. The benefits of interim feedback are discussed from the perspectives of engagement, cognitive load, feedback–practice juxtaposition, and integration of form‐focused instruction in task repetition.
{"title":"What Is the Ideal Time to Provide Corrective Feedback? An Approximate Replication of Li, Zhu, and Ellis (2016)","authors":"Shaofeng Li, Jie Li, Jiancheng Qian","doi":"10.1111/lang.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70019","url":null,"abstract":"This replication study examines feedback timing in vocational language learners and verifies the hypothesis that the advantage of immediate over delayed feedback found in the original study (Li, Zhu, & Ellis, 2016) is due to practice opportunities in immediate feedback. Participants were 186 first‐year ESL learners at a vocational college. Four experimental groups performed two dictogloss tasks and received immediate feedback (during tasks), delayed feedback (after both tasks), interim feedback (between tasks), or no feedback (task only) on their wrong use of the English passive voice. A fifth (control) group received no instructional treatment. Results showed an advantage for interim over delayed feedback for explicit knowledge on the immediate posttest, comparable performance for interim and immediate feedback, and no notable gains in implicit knowledge for any group. The benefits of interim feedback are discussed from the perspectives of engagement, cognitive load, feedback–practice juxtaposition, and integration of form‐focused instruction in task repetition.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145673880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study compared the effectiveness of written versus bimodal input on the processing and learning of novel words in a text. While their eye movements were recorded, 59 university‐level second language (L2) English readers read a 9,500‐word text containing 24 unfamiliar words over 2 consecutive days in one of two conditions: reading only and reading while listening. Vocabulary development was assessed with a real‐time sentence‐reading test and form recognition, meaning recall, and meaning recognition tests both immediately after the second day's learning session and 1 week later. Both modalities accelerated the processing of unfamiliar words across exposures during reading, but bimodal input induced numerically longer gaze durations on initial encounters and was more effective for learning word forms. However, neither modality supported fluent retrieval of the learned words in neutral contexts. Whereas exposure frequency predicted the learning of word forms and meanings, amount of attention predicted only word form learning.
{"title":"Bimodal Input in Processing and Learning of Novel Vocabulary During Reading: An Eye‐Tracking Study","authors":"Ayşen Tuzcu, Shawn Loewen","doi":"10.1111/lang.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70017","url":null,"abstract":"This study compared the effectiveness of written versus bimodal input on the processing and learning of novel words in a text. While their eye movements were recorded, 59 university‐level second language (L2) English readers read a 9,500‐word text containing 24 unfamiliar words over 2 consecutive days in one of two conditions: reading only and reading while listening. Vocabulary development was assessed with a real‐time sentence‐reading test and form recognition, meaning recall, and meaning recognition tests both immediately after the second day's learning session and 1 week later. Both modalities accelerated the processing of unfamiliar words across exposures during reading, but bimodal input induced numerically longer gaze durations on initial encounters and was more effective for learning word forms. However, neither modality supported fluent retrieval of the learned words in neutral contexts. Whereas exposure frequency predicted the learning of word forms and meanings, amount of attention predicted only word form learning.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145575642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Is talent or hard work more important in language learning success? Grit research suggests that perseverance and passion predict success over and beyond talent. As such, this study aimed to address three objectives: (a) to test whether second language (L2) grit predicts proficiency beyond aptitude, (b) to examine the relative effects of grit and aptitude (and their subcomponents) on proficiency, and (c) to investigate how these cognitive and noncognitive traits interact. Data were collected from 256 undergraduates at an elite university who completed a questionnaire, a language aptitude test, and an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test. Findings revealed that L2 grit and aptitude predicted English proficiency positively, with grit showing incremental validity. Moreover, interaction analyses revealed that high perseverance could offset low aptitude, and high aptitude combined with high passion and persistence led to the strongest L2 outcomes, highlighting the joint power of effort and talent.
{"title":"What Really Drives Language Learning Success: Talent or Hard Work?","authors":"Yasser Teimouri","doi":"10.1111/lang.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70018","url":null,"abstract":"Is talent or hard work more important in language learning success? Grit research suggests that perseverance and passion predict success over and beyond talent. As such, this study aimed to address three objectives: (a) to test whether second language (L2) grit predicts proficiency beyond aptitude, (b) to examine the relative effects of grit and aptitude (and their subcomponents) on proficiency, and (c) to investigate how these cognitive and noncognitive traits interact. Data were collected from 256 undergraduates at an elite university who completed a questionnaire, a language aptitude test, and an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test. Findings revealed that L2 grit and aptitude predicted English proficiency positively, with grit showing incremental validity. Moreover, interaction analyses revealed that high perseverance could offset low aptitude, and high aptitude combined with high passion and persistence led to the strongest L2 outcomes, highlighting the joint power of effort and talent.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145498240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research shows that children use head gestures to mark discourse focus before developing the required prosodic cues in their first language (L1), and their gestures affect the prosodic parameters of their speech. We investigated whether head gestures also act as precursors and bootstrappers of prosodic focus marking in second language (L2) acquisition. Catalan adults produced English utterances in broad, contrastive, and corrective focus. We analyzed (the alignment between) prosodic and gestural correlates of focus. Replication in an L2 context showed that learners used gestures in focus marking but transferred both prosodic and gestural L1 patterns to their L2, lengthening phrase final elements, producing them with a wider F0 range, and accompanying them with a gesture more often than nonphrase final elements. This suggests that gesture and prosody are tightly connected in this context, inhibiting the bootstrapping function of gesture. Hence, L2 learners highlight the same, possibly inaccurate, part of an utterance in both modalities.
{"title":"Head Gestures Do Not Serve as Precursors of Prosodic Focus Marking in the Second Language as They Do in the First Language","authors":"Lieke van Maastricht, Núria Esteve‐Gibert","doi":"10.1111/lang.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70015","url":null,"abstract":"Research shows that children use head gestures to mark discourse focus before developing the required prosodic cues in their first language (L1), and their gestures affect the prosodic parameters of their speech. We investigated whether head gestures also act as precursors and bootstrappers of prosodic focus marking in second language (L2) acquisition. Catalan adults produced English utterances in broad, contrastive, and corrective focus. We analyzed (the alignment between) prosodic and gestural correlates of focus. Replication in an L2 context showed that learners used gestures in focus marking but transferred both prosodic and gestural L1 patterns to their L2, lengthening phrase final elements, producing them with a wider F0 range, and accompanying them with a gesture more often than nonphrase final elements. This suggests that gesture and prosody are tightly connected in this context, inhibiting the bootstrapping function of gesture. Hence, L2 learners highlight the same, possibly inaccurate, part of an utterance in both modalities.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145485601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrea González‐García Aldariz, Eva M. Moreno, Alice Foucart
Emotion that is implied rather than literally expressed requires the processing of literal and pragmatic information. Processing multiple information types is an easy, fast process in the first language (L1) but can be costlier in a second language (L2), especially when emotional content is involved. This study investigates whether late learners of a L2 infer others’ emotions that are not literally stated in discourse. Spanish L1 users’ brain activity was recorded using event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) while they read two‐sentence sequences in their L1 or L2 (English). The emotionality of each critical sentence was determined by the emotionally neutral or negative preceding context sentence. We anticipated observing distinct neural patterns between neutral and negative conditions, particularly in ERP modulations associated with semantic fit (N400) and late reanalysis processes (LPP). However, no significant effects were found between emotion conditions in either the L1 or L2. We discuss the implications of these results regarding implicit emotion processing.
{"title":"How Do They Feel? Processing Others’ Emotions in Second Language Discourse","authors":"Andrea González‐García Aldariz, Eva M. Moreno, Alice Foucart","doi":"10.1111/lang.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70016","url":null,"abstract":"Emotion that is implied rather than literally expressed requires the processing of literal and pragmatic information. Processing multiple information types is an easy, fast process in the first language (L1) but can be costlier in a second language (L2), especially when emotional content is involved. This study investigates whether late learners of a L2 infer others’ emotions that are not literally stated in discourse. Spanish L1 users’ brain activity was recorded using event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) while they read two‐sentence sequences in their L1 or L2 (English). The emotionality of each critical sentence was determined by the emotionally neutral or negative preceding context sentence. We anticipated observing distinct neural patterns between neutral and negative conditions, particularly in ERP modulations associated with semantic fit (N400) and late reanalysis processes (LPP). However, no significant effects were found between emotion conditions in either the L1 or L2. We discuss the implications of these results regarding implicit emotion processing.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigated whether structural priming, as a reflection of error‐driven implicit learning mechanisms, could lead first language speakers and classroom learners (including heritage speakers and second language learners) of Mandarin to adapt their productions and real‐time predictions of dative constructions. Participants completed a visual world eye tracking + structural priming (VWSP) task where they took turns reading aloud sentences (prime trials) and listening to sentences while looking at visual scenes (target trials) containing three entities (agent, theme, recipient). They also completed written picture description tasks eliciting dative sentences before and after the VWSP task. The results revealed no immediate priming effects or longer‐term adaptation in real‐time prediction. Nevertheless, the priming treatment led to longer‐term adaptation in production in a 1‐day delayed posttest. Notably, the patterns of change reflect error‐driven learning in accords with different initial biases of the target dative verbs among different types of language users.
{"title":"Priming Ditransitives in Native Speakers and Learners of Mandarin: Error‐Driven Learning Affects Production but Not Real‐Time Predictive Processing","authors":"Yanxin (Alice) Zhu, Theres Grüter","doi":"10.1111/lang.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70012","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated whether structural priming, as a reflection of error‐driven implicit learning mechanisms, could lead first language speakers and classroom learners (including heritage speakers and second language learners) of Mandarin to adapt their productions and real‐time predictions of dative constructions. Participants completed a visual world eye tracking + structural priming (VWSP) task where they took turns reading aloud sentences (prime trials) and listening to sentences while looking at visual scenes (target trials) containing three entities (agent, theme, recipient). They also completed written picture description tasks eliciting dative sentences before and after the VWSP task. The results revealed no immediate priming effects or longer‐term adaptation in real‐time prediction. Nevertheless, the priming treatment led to longer‐term adaptation in production in a 1‐day delayed posttest. Notably, the patterns of change reflect error‐driven learning in accords with different initial biases of the target dative verbs among different types of language users.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"121 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Teacher–student interactions are crucial in language learning, often modulated by students’ emotional status. Although the interaction quality is known to be associated with improved learning outcomes, its effect in anxious contexts remains unclear. This study objectively captured students’ classroom anxiety using heart rate variability, and innovatively assessed teacher–student interaction quality with functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. We specifically explored how students’ anxiety levels and teacher–student interaction quality contribute to language learning. Results showed that higher anxiety levels were associated with higher teacher–student brain synchrony, which in turn negatively impacted students’ improvement in sentence complexity. This suggests that heightened anxiety may promote passive learning behaviors, leading students to rely more on their teacher and potentially hindering independent thought. Such dependence could limit language development by reducing active engagement and knowledge application. By integrating real‐time physiological and neuroimaging methods, this study advances our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying effective language learning.
{"title":"Effect of Teacher–Student Interaction on Language Learning Under Anxiety: An fNIRS‐Based Hyperscanning Study","authors":"Jiaze Li, Yuhang Li, Hanyu Wang, Jielu Chen, Rihui Li, Haoyun Zhang","doi":"10.1111/lang.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.70013","url":null,"abstract":"Teacher–student interactions are crucial in language learning, often modulated by students’ emotional status. Although the interaction quality is known to be associated with improved learning outcomes, its effect in anxious contexts remains unclear. This study objectively captured students’ classroom anxiety using heart rate variability, and innovatively assessed teacher–student interaction quality with functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. We specifically explored how students’ anxiety levels and teacher–student interaction quality contribute to language learning. Results showed that higher anxiety levels were associated with higher teacher–student brain synchrony, which in turn negatively impacted students’ improvement in sentence complexity. This suggests that heightened anxiety may promote passive learning behaviors, leading students to rely more on their teacher and potentially hindering independent thought. Such dependence could limit language development by reducing active engagement and knowledge application. By integrating real‐time physiological and neuroimaging methods, this study advances our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying effective language learning.","PeriodicalId":51371,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning","volume":"356 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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