Declarative and procedural memory as individual differences in second language acquisition

Abstract

This study examined how individual differences in cognitive abilities account for variance in the attainment level of adult second language (L2) syntactic development. Participants completed assessments of declarative and procedural learning abilities. They subsequently learned an artificial L2 under implicit training conditions and received extended comprehension and production practice using the L2. Syntactic development was assessed at both early and late stages of acquisition. Results indicated positive relationships between declarative learning ability and syntactic development at early stages of acquisition and between procedural learning ability and development at later stages of acquisition. Individual differences in these memory abilities accounted for a large amount of variance at both stages of development. The findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives of L2 that posit different roles for these memory systems at different stages of development, and suggest that declarative and procedural memory learning abilities may predict L2 grammatical development, at least for implicitly trained learners.

The Role of Procedural Memory in Adult Second Language Acquisition

“…Indeed, it appears that high procedural memory ability paired with implicit training conditions produced an optimal learning context. These findings are consistent with the results from the previous studies conducted by Carpenter (2008), Ettlinger et al (2010), and Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, et al (2014), which showed that procedural memory ability predicted success in implicit language training conditions at later stages of L2 development. This study adds to the previous studies by expanding the measures of procedural memory and examining its influence across both explicit and implicit training conditions.…”

“…The artificial language learned by participants was Brocanto2 (Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, et al, 2014;Morgan-Short, Finger, et al, 2012;Morgan-Short et al, 2010). In contrast to many artificial grammar learning paradigms, the artificial language Brocanto2, modeled after the artificial language Brocanto (Friederici, Steinhauer, & Pfeifer, 2002), is based on universal requirements of a natural language and is fully productive and meaningful.…”

“…Initially research focused on the role of working memory (e.g., Robinson, 2003;Williams, 2012) and now has also begun to examine the role of declarative and procedural memory (Carpenter, 2008;Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, Brill-Schuetz, Carpenter, & Wong, 2014). Theories put forth by Ullman (2001Ullman ( , 2004Ullman ( , 2005, Paradis (1994, 2013), and DeKeyser (2007 have posited that these two types of long-term memory have an important role in language learning and claim that success at advanced stages of L2 development may depend on procedural memory in particular.…”

“…This idea has already received some support in behavioral studies. For example, Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, et al (2014) examined whether individual differences in procedural memory predicted performance on an assessment of L2 syntax (word order) at the end stages of learning an artificial language. Procedural memory was assessed using a composite score across two computerized measures of procedural memory: the Tower of London (TOL; Unterrainer et al, 2004) and the dual-task version of the Weather Prediction Task (WPT; Knowlton, Squire, & Gluck, 1994).…”

Declarative and Procedural Memory as Individual Differences in Second Language Aptitude

“…An emerging line of research suggests that long-term memory may also serve as an individual difference factor in L2 learning. More specifically, declarative and procedural memory, both of which are domaingeneral, cognitive, long-term memory systems have been posited to play a role in L2 learning (DeKeyser, 2015;Paradis, 2009;Ullman, 2015), and individual difference research largely supports these claims (e.g., Antoniou, Ettlinger, & Wong, 2016; Faretta-Stutenberg & MorganShort, 2017;Hamrick, 2015;Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, Brill-Schuetz, Carpenter, & Wong, 2014).The current chapter considers the role of declarative and procedural memory in L2. First, we provide detailed definitions of declarative and procedural memory and knowledge, and then review three theoretical perspectives that posit that declarative and procedural memory contribute to L2 acquisition: Ullman (2015), Paradis (2009), and DeKeyser's Skill Acquisition Theory (DeKeyser, 2015).…”