The impact of second- and third-language learning on language aptitude and working memory

Abstract

An increasing number of adults learn more than one foreign language simultaneously. While the cognitive benefits of using multiple languages from birth have been studied extensively, little is known about possible cognitive benefits of learning multiple languages simultaneously in adulthood. Among the cognitive abilities which play a role in language learning, language aptitude (LA) and working memory (WM) are argued to be crucial. Traditionally considered relatively stable, recently they are advocated to be changeable. For example, one could imagine that learning new sounds, words, and structures in a language might both enhance the ability to temporarily hold and manage information (WM) and improve the ease with which subsequent languages are learnt (LA). Therefore, this study investigates whether LA and WM change while learning languages, and whether language learning intensity, i.e. learning one versus two foreign languages simultaneously, modulates this effect. Participants consisted of first-year and second-year Chinese university students majoring in English or English & Japanese/Russian. Data were collected twice with an interval of one academic year. The results show that all learners improved in certain aspects of LA and WM, and that among the first-year students, the two-foreign-languages learners outperformed their counterparts in WM improvement. The implications are discussed.

Learning an L2 and L3 at the same time: help or hinder?

“…With regards to motivation, the L2 + L3 learners were found to have a significant higher motivation to learn L2 (English) than the L2 only learners (Huang et al, 2020a). The other study showed that while the L2 + L3 learners and L2 learners started with a similar working memory capacity, the former had a significantly larger capacity than the latter after one academic year (Huang et al, 2020). Therefore, the learner-based advantages among bilingual learners for L3 learning, such as learning strategies (e.g.…”

Coping with Challenges in Teaching Foreign Languages to Children with Mild Intellectual Disabilities: Stakeholders’ Perspectives

“…Similarly, they are related to the student's aptitude toward language learning based on her performance in the classroom. Thus, the linguistic, (meta) cognitive, social, cultural or affective benefits obtained from learning an FL by the MID student are brought to bear on prevailing theories in the field [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]31]. Regarding these, we have perceived that the stakeholders have mainly been centered on the (meta) cognitive benefits, such as autonomy and selfdetermination, as well as the social-affective benefits, namely the self-esteem and selfconcept of the MID student.…”

“…A significant and recurrent obstacle that stands in the way is the diversity of learning profiles inherent among these students [11]. Nevertheless, the numerous benefits in the linguistic domain [12][13][14][15][16][17]; cognitive and metacognitive domains [18][19][20][21]; sociocultural domain [22][23][24]; and socioemotional dimension [25][26][27] have been reported in the literature. Furthermore, as stated in the Salamanca Agreement [28], the European Commission [29] and by other researchers [19,23,30], any student has the right to receive a good quality education and equal educational opportunities from an ethical and legal point of view.…”

Individual differences in memory predict changes in breakdown and repair fluency but not speed fluency: A short-term fluency training intervention study

“…On the day following the last training session (Day 4), participants came to the computer lab for the posttest and also took the aptitude tests later during the subsequent week. Because aptitude may improve with extensive linguistic experience (Huang et al, 2020), the aptitude measures should have been taken prior to the experimental treatment (e.g. before Week 1).…”