LINGUIST List 25.3076
Tue
Jul 29 2014
Diss: Neurolinguistics:
Faretta-Stutenberg: 'Individual Differences in
Context...'
Editor for this issue:
Danuta Allen <danutalinguistlist.org>
Date: 23-Jul-2014
From: Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg
<mfs
niu.edu>
Subject: Individual
Differences in Context: A Neurolinguistic
Investigation of Working Memory and L2
Development
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Institution: University of Illinois at
Chicago
Program: Hispanic Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2014
Author: Mandy L Faretta-Stutenberg
Dissertation Title: Individual Differences in
Context: A Neurolinguistic Investigation of
Working Memory and L2 Development
Dissertation URL:
https://niu.academia.edu/MandyFarettaStutenberg/Dissertation
Linguistic Field(s): Neurolinguistics
Dissertation Director:
Kara Morgan-Short
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis examines the interplay between
external and internal factors in second
language
acquisition by analyzing the role of individual
differences in experiential (language contact)
and
cognitive (working memory) factors in
linguistic development that takes place in
traditional, at
home classroom settings and during study
abroad. The study aims to provide a
multi-dimensional
perspective on these relationships by assessing
both behavioral and neural evidence. The
study
assesses changes in linguistic abilities
(overall proficiency, grammaticality judgments,
and oral
production accuracy) and online processing
(event-related potentials elicited during
grammaticality judgment task) among
intermediate-level learners of Spanish as a
second
language. Changes in proficiency and processing
over the course of one semester of study
are
analyzed with regard to reported language
contact hours and working memory abilities.
Analyses
revealed that learners in both the At Home and
Study Abroad groups evidenced behavioral
and
processing changes from pre- to post-semester.
Within the At Home group, language contact
and
working memory accounted for changes in (1)
overall proficiency and (2) online processing
of
grammatical gender agreement on adjectives.
Within the Study Abroad group, language
contact
accounted for (1) gains in judgment and
production accuracy for grammatical gender
agreement
on adjectives and (2) changes in online
processing of adjective agreement violations.
Working
memory did not account for behavioral or
processing changes within the Study Abroad
group.
Results of this study contribute data to
context-based and neurocognitive approaches to
second
language acquisition research. They also
provide preliminary answers to Collentine and
Freed’s
(2004) call for theories of language
acquisition and processing to take into
consideration cognitive
abilities and context of learning. Future
research that utilizes a multidimensional
approach
informed by the fields of second language
acquisition and cognitive neuroscience is
likely to
provide further insights into the relationships
between external and internal factors in
linguistic
development and have significant implications
for identifying the predictors of successful
second
language acquisition among adult learners.
Page Updated: 29-Jul-2014