Adult Language Learning After Minimal Exposure to an Unknown Natural Language

Gullberg, Marianne; Roberts, Leah; Dimroth, Christine; Veroude, Kim; Indefrey, Peter

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00598.x

Cited by 70 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Through the means of an interactive word learning task, it examined whether gesture can facilitate these processes, complementing the findings of other studies of gesture in early L2 learning (Gullberg et al, 2010;Kelly et al, 2009;Sueyoshi & Hardison, 2005;Tellier, 2008). This work also represents the first experimental study to directly compare how gesture enactment and gesture viewing affect L2 word learning and recall.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

When Hands Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Gesture in the Communication, Encoding, and Recall of Words in a Novel Second Language

Morett

2014

The Modern Language Journal

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In the interest of clarifying how gesture facilitates L2 word learning, the current study investigates gesture's influence on three interrelated cognitive processes subserving L2 word learning: communication, encoding, and recall. Individuals unfamiliar with Hungarian learned 20 Hungarian words that were either accompanied or unaccompanied by gestures depicting their referents, and taught the meanings of the words to interlocutors who were also unfamiliar with Hungarian. All participants were then tested for their recall of target words. The results show that gesture facilitates all three cognitive processes, supporting the predictions of McNeill's (2005) growth point theory. Furthermore, the results indicate that gesture production facilitates all of the cognitive processes more effectively than gesture viewing. Overall, the results demonstrate that gesture can serve as an effective cognitive aid for L2 word learning by beginning L2 learners, particularly in task-focused, conversational settings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

When Hands Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Gesture in the Communication, Encoding, and Recall of Words in a Novel Second Language

Morett

2014

The Modern Language Journal

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“…The stimuli used both by Pelucchi et al and Kittleson et al were more complex than those used in typical artificial language studies. Others have used a natural language (Mandarin) presented in the context of visual information (a video clip) that contained multiple cues to word units and their meanings (Gullberg, Roberts, Dimroth, Veroude, & Indefrey, 2010). These studies indicate that learners can use co-occurrence information, with or without additional visual cues, to segment words from running speech in a variety of natural languages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nature of the language input affects brain activation during learning from a natural language

Plante

Patterson

Gómez

et al. 2015

Journal of Neurolinguistics

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Artificial language studies have demonstrated that learners are able to segment individual word-like units from running speech using the transitional probability information. However, this skill has rarely been examined in the context of natural languages, where stimulus parameters can be quite different. In this study, two groups of English-speaking learners were exposed to Norwegian sentences over the course of three fMRI scans. One group was provided with input in which transitional probabilities predicted the presence of target words in the sentences. This group quickly learned to identify the target words and fMRI data revealed an extensive and highly dynamic learning network. These results were markedly different from activation seen for a second group of participants. This group was provided with highly similar input that was modified so that word learning based on syllable co-occurrences was not possible. These participants showed a much more restricted network. The results demonstrate that the nature of the input strongly influenced the nature of the network that learners employ to learn the properties of words in a natural language.

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“…This claim has been supported by a series of studies that convincingly show that learners are capable of analysing the form of target structures at the very onset of their L2 learning. Gullberg et al (2010) exposed Dutch speakers to naturalistic but controlled weather reports in Mandarin and tested their capacity to identify target words based on minimal exposure to a typologically distant L2. Results showed that learners succeeded in recognising target words, especially disyllabic over monosyllabic words.…”

Section: Input Processing At First Exposure To An L2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Learners often use L1 phonology to segment the target language (e.g. Gullberg et al, 2010), and in production they often substitute L2 sounds with elements from their own phonological repertoire (Carroll, 2013;Flege, 1992). A question that remains widely unexplored is how L2 learners of a sign language cope with the task of discriminating the relevant linguistic elements from a continuous visual signal when the L1 cannot be recruited as an aid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Input processing at first exposure to a sign language

Ortega

Morgan

2015

Second Language Research

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There is growing interest in learners' cognitive capacities to process a second language (L2) at first exposure to the target language. Evidence suggests that L2 learners are capable of processing novel words by exploiting phonological information from their first language (L1). Hearing adult learners of a sign language, however, cannot fall back on their L1 to process novel signs because the modality differences between speech (aural-oral) and sign (visual-manual) do not allow for direct cross-linguistic influence. Sign language learners might use alternative strategies to process input expressed in the manual channel. Learners may rely on iconicity, the direct relationship between a sign and its referent. Evidence up to now has shown that iconicity facilitates learning in non-signers, but it is unclear whether it also facilitates sign production. In order to fill this gap, the present study investigated how iconicity influenced articulation of the phonological components of signs. In Study 1, hearing non-signers viewed a set of iconic and arbitrary signs along with their English translations and repeated the signs as accurately as possible immediately after. The results show that participants imitated iconic signs significantly less accurately than arbitrary signs. In Study 2, a second group of hearing non-signers imitated the same set of signs but without the accompanying English translations. The same lower accuracy for iconic signs was observed. We argue that learners rely on iconicity to process manual input because it brings familiarity to the target (sign) language. However, this reliance comes at a cost as it leads to a more superficial processing of the signs' full phonetic form. The present findings add to our understanding of learners' cognitive capacities at first exposure to a signed L2, and raises new theoretical questions in the field of second language acquisition.

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Adult Language Learning After Minimal Exposure to an Unknown Natural Language

Cited by 70 publications

References 66 publications

When Hands Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Gesture in the Communication, Encoding, and Recall of Words in a Novel Second Language

When Hands Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Gesture in the Communication, Encoding, and Recall of Words in a Novel Second Language

The nature of the language input affects brain activation during learning from a natural language

Input processing at first exposure to a sign language

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