Lexical Access in L2 Speech Production: a controlled serial search task

Abstract

When it comes to lexical access in L2 speech production, working memory (WM) seems to play a central role as for less automatized procedures require more WM capacity to be executed (Prebianca, 2007). With that in mind, this paper aims at claiming that bilingual lexical access qualifies as a controlled serial strategic search task susceptible to individual differences in WM capacity. Evidence in support of such claim is provided by the results of AUTHOR's (2010) study conducted so as to investigate the relationship between L2 lexical access, WMC and L2 proficiency. AUTHOR's (2010) findings indicate that bilingual lexical access entails underlying processes such as cue generation, set delimitation, serial search and monitoring, which to be carried out, require the allocation of attention. Attention is limited and, as a result, only higher spans were able to perform these underlying processes automatically.

Relating Lexical Access and Second Language Speaking Performance

“…Before declarative rules turn into procedural knowledge, L2 learners at a lower level of proficiency have to use limited attention to process at lexical, syntactic, and phonological levels as well as in monitoring. This causes L2 speech to be less fluent and more open to L1 influence (Kormos 2006;Vieira 2017).…”

Acesso lexical de bilíngues: Histórico e perspectivas de pesquisa no Brasil

“…Em geral, os participantes são adultos em 7 dos 8 estudos, crianças foram participantes em 2 estudos (SI-MONATO; BALDISSERI; AVILA, 2021; ARÊAS DALUZ FONTES et al, 2021). Em 3 dos trabalhos selecionados, os participantes eram aprendizes da L2(VIEIRA, 2017;…”