ERPs Recorded during Early Second Language Exposure Predict Syntactic Learning

Abstract

Millions of adults worldwide are faced with the task of learning a second language (L2). Understanding the neural mechanisms that support this learning process is an important area of scientific inquiry. However, most previous studies on the neural mechanisms underlying L2 acquisition have focused on characterizing the results of learning, relying upon end-state outcome measures in which learning is assessed after it has occurred, rather than on the learning process itself. In the present study, we adopted a novel and more direct approach to investigate neural mechanisms engaged during L2 learning, in which we recorded ERPs from beginning adult learners as they were exposed to an unfamiliar L2 for the first time. Learners’ proficiency in the L2 was then assessed behaviorally using a grammaticality judgment task, and ERP data acquired during initial L2 exposure were sorted as a function of performance on this task. High proficiency learners showed a larger N100 effect to open-class content words compared to closed-class function words, while low proficiency learners did not show a significant N100 difference between open- and closed-class words. In contrast, amplitude of the N400 word category effect correlated with learners’ L2 comprehension, rather than predicting syntactic learning. Taken together, these results indicate that learners who spontaneously direct greater attention to open- rather than closed-class words when processing L2 input show better syntactic learning, suggesting a link between selective attention to open-class content words and acquisition of basic morphosyntactic rules. These findings highlight the importance of selective attention mechanisms for L2 acquisition.

Prediction of Second Language Proficiency Based on Electroencephalographic Signals Measured While Listening to Natural Speech

“…The importance of selective attention in L2 learning has been previously shown. In a previous ERP study, Batterink and Neville (2014) showed that L2 learners who spontaneously direct greater attention to open class words rather than closed class words when processing L2 input gain better syntactic learning. In eye-tracking studies on Japanese learners of English, participants who paid more attention to the task-relevant contents showed better task performance, although most participants did not read selectively Atkins, 2018, 2019).…”

EEG Resting-State and Event-Related Potentials as Markers of Learning Success in Older Adults Following Second Language Training: A Pilot Study

“…There is ample evidence to suggest that it is precisely selective attention that is one of the key skills enhanced in bilinguals as compared to monolinguals (Bialystok 2009), and that it constitutes a significant predictor for L2 acquisition in adulthood (Batterink & Neville 2014, Issa & Morgan-Short, 2018). L2 learners acquire a new language based on the input they read or hear, but some features of the input become output only at very late stages of L2 acquisition, and some forms even fail to become intake altogether.…”

Insights into the neural mechanisms of becoming bilingual: A brief synthesis of second language research with artificial linguistic systems

“…To the author's knowledge, only two meaningful ALS neural studies have examined L2 grammar Bilingualism: Language and Cognition online. Batterink and Neville (2014) examined electrophysiological data that were recorded during training in the miniature French study (Batterink & Neville, 2013). Processing during training was analyzed in regard to ERP effects tied to selective attention (N100) and to successful identification of words (N400).…”