Grammatical gender processing in L2: Electrophysiological evidence of the effect of L1–L2 syntactic similarity

Foucart, Alice; Frenck-Mestre, Cheryl

doi:10.1017/s136672891000012x

Cited by 130 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Steinhauer et al interpreted these results as supporting the possibility of native-like L2 processing among highly proficient adult learners. At the same time, given the greater typological similarity between English and French than between English and Chinese, the lack of a LAN for the highly proficient Chinese speakers raised the possibility that L1 transfer modulates nativelikeness of processing (for similar findings, see Foucart and Frenck-Mestre 2011;Rossi et al 2006). Recent work has also linked different L2 ERP effects to structure-specific L2 proficiency.…”

Section: Event-related Potentials and L2 Proficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Working memory capacity in L2 processing

Reichle¹,

Tremblay

Coughlin

2016

Probus

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In this paper, we review the current state of the second language (L2) processing literature and report data suggesting that this subfield should now turn its attention to working memory capacity as an important factor modulating the possibility of (near)-native-like L2 processing. We first review three major overarching accounts of L2 processing (Clahsen et al. 2006a Performance similarities between non-native and native speakers. Lingua 120. 901-931) and frame their predictions in terms of the qualitative and quantitative differences in processing expected between native speakers and L2 learners. We next review event-related potential (ERP) research on L2 processing and argue that the field's current understanding of qualitative and quantitative differences in ERPs warrants an additional focus on variables other than L2 proficiency that can also predict individual differences in L2 processing. Recent L2 research (relying on ERPs, self-paced reading, and other online measures) suggests that the most promising such variable is working memory (WM) capacity. We summarize results from our recent L2 WM studies -and report new ERP findings -that point to the possibility of a modulatory effect of WM capacity on the nativelikeness of L2 processing. We conclude that the study of WM capacity is the logical next step for this L2 processing subfield.

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Section: Event-related Potentials and L2 Proficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Working memory capacity in L2 processing

Reichle¹,

Tremblay

Coughlin

2016

Probus

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“…The top panel of Figure 5 shows the comparison of (objectively and subjectively) correct versus incorrect trials for these items. Note that this comparison, which includes about two thirds of the items, corresponds to the "standard" analysis in those L2 studies where incorrect offline responses (e.g., on grammatical judgments) are excluded from analysis (Foucart & Frenck-Mestre, 2011;Gillon Dowens et al, 2009, 2011. It is clearly visible from the figure that the same effects are observed as we reported earlier for "subjective correctness" in general, that is, an early (from around 200 msec) anterior negativity and a later posterior positivity (around 700-1000 msec).…”

Section: L2 Speakers: Separate Analysis For Correctly and Incorrectlymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous ERP studies on the processing of gender or number agreement violations in native speakers of various languages have almost invariably shown P600 effects, at least when the violation concerned two adjacent words in the sentence (OʼRourke & Van Petten, 2011;Barber & Carreiras, 2005;Wicha, Moreno, & Kutas, 2004;Hagoort, 2003;Münte, Szentkuti, Wieringa, Matzke, & Johannes, 1997). However, the studies differ in whether they also observed an early, anterior, and often leftlateralized negativity (LAN; OʼRourke & Van Petten, 2011;Barber & Carreiras, 2005;Gunter, Friederici, & Schriefers, 2000) or not (Foucart & Frenck-Mestre, 2011;Hagoort, 2003, for the middle sentence position; Martìn-Loeches, Nigbur, Casado, Hohlfeld, & Sommer, 2006;Wicha et al, 2004). Whereas the P600 component is generally assumed to reflect strategic processes of syntactic reanalysis and repair, the LAN is probably indicative of a more automatic process of morphosyntactic reference computation (e.g., OʼRourke & Van Petten, 2011;Rossi et al, 2006;Friederici, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the LAN effects were missing for this group. Foucart and Frenck-Mestre (2011) investigated the response of German learners of French to different instances of French gender agreement: determiner-noun agreement that is argued to be implemented similarly in German and French as well as adjective-noun agreement that differs from German. The results indicated that the L2 speakers, just like native speakers, displayed the expected P600 effects for determiner-noun agreement, whereas these were absent in the L2 speakers for violations of noun-adjective agreement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Idiosyncratic Grammars: Syntactic Processing in Second Language Comprehension Uses Subjective Feature Representations

Lemhöfer

Schriefers

Indefrey

2014

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Abstract■ Learning the syntax of a second language (L2) often represents a big challenge to L2 learners. Previous research on syntactic processing in L2 has mainly focused on how L2 speakers respond to "objective" syntactic violations, that is, phrases that are incorrect by native standards. In this study, we investigate how L2 learners, in particular those of less than near-native proficiency, process phrases that deviate from their own, "subjective," and often incorrect syntactic representations, that is, whether they use these subjective and idiosyncratic representations during sentence comprehension. We study this within the domain of grammatical gender in a population of German learners of Dutch, for which systematic errors of grammatical gender are well documented. These L2 learners as well as a control group of Dutch native speakers read Dutch sentences containing gender-marked determinernoun phrases in which gender agreement was either (objectively) correct or incorrect. Furthermore, the noun targets were selected such that, in a high proportion of nouns, objective and subjective correctness would differ for German learners. The ERP results show a syntactic violation effect (P600) for objective gender agreement violations for native, but not for nonnative speakers. However, when the items were re-sorted for the L2 speakers according to subjective correctness (as assessed offline), the P600 effect emerged as well. Thus, rather than being insensitive to violations of gender agreement, L2 speakers are similarly sensitive as native speakers but base their sensitivity on their subjectivesometimes incorrect-representations. ■

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“…Compared to the inertness in L1 Chinese assessment research, second language acquisition research focusing on interaction strategies and the availability of quite a few inventories (e.g., Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei & Thurrell, 1995;Dörnyei & Scott, 1997;Kasper & Kellerman, 1997;Nakatani, 2006;Tarone, 1981) possesses a dynamic atmosphere. To develop a list of L1 Chinese interaction strategies, borrowing from second language acquisition studies could be a convenient way, as much research has shown the overlap between first language (L1) and second or foreign language (L2) ability (Cook, 2003;Foucart & Frenck-Mestre, 2011). However, direct transference of these strategies to Confucian L1 Chinese context is deemed insufficient for several reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of the Oral Interaction Strategy Scale for speakers of Chinese as the first language in elementary schools

Zhu¹,

Cai²,

Fan³

et al. 2017

L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature

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This study validated the Oral Interaction Strategy Scale (OISS) for speakers of Chinese as a first language in elementary schools. The OISS measures students' perceptions of how frequently they use interaction strategies of Chinese as a first language (L1 Chinese). The study involved two studies. In the first study, among 642 pupils, we identified seven categories of interaction strategies in Chinese communication. In the second study, among another 678 pupils, the seven-dimension structure was confirmed. Besides, a second-order factor of interaction strategies was established and the relative importance of each firstorder factor to the second-order factor was also examined. The implications for further studies are discussed.

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Grammatical gender processing in L2: Electrophysiological evidence of the effect of L1–L2 syntactic similarity

Cited by 130 publications

References 48 publications

Working memory capacity in L2 processing

Working memory capacity in L2 processing

Idiosyncratic Grammars: Syntactic Processing in Second Language Comprehension Uses Subjective Feature Representations

Validation of the Oral Interaction Strategy Scale for speakers of Chinese as the first language in elementary schools

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