Structural priming and the acquisition of novel form-meaning mappings

McDonough, Kim; Trofimovich, Pavel

doi:10.1515/9783110378528-007

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Immediately before and after the priming activity, the participants were asked to describe 10 pictures that were not included in the priming activity. Their production of Esperanto transitives during these activities falls outside the scope of the current study, and is reported elsewhere (McDonough & Trofimovich, in press). …”

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confidence: 78%

The Detection and Primed Production of Novel Constructions

McDonough¹,

Fulga

2015

Language Learning

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Situated within second language (L2) research about the acquisition of morphosyntax, this study investigated English L2 speakers’ detection and primed production of a novel construction with morphological and structural features. We report on two experiments with Thai (n = 69) and Farsi (n = 70) English L2 speakers, respectively, carried out an aural construction learning task that provided low type‐frequency input with the transitive construction in Esperanto—which is marked by accusative case marking (–n) and flexible word order (subject‐verb‐object and object‐verb‐subject)—followed by aural comprehension tests and a priming activity (20 primes and 20 prompts). Results of the aural comprehension tests showed that 23% of the Thai participants (16/69) and 50% of the Farsi participants (35/70) detected the target construction in the input. Results of the primed production task revealed that only those participants who detected the target construction were able to be primed. The findings are discussed in relation to the role of speakers’ previously learned languages in the detection and primed production of novel constructions.

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confidence: 78%

The Detection and Primed Production of Novel Constructions

McDonough¹,

Fulga

2015

Language Learning

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“…The Esperanto materials consisted of a picture identification task divided into exposure and test phases based on items used in previous studies (Fulga & McDonough, ; McDonough & Fulga, ; McDonough & Trofimovich, , ). For the exposure phase, the participants listened to 24 simple Esperanto transitive sentences (12 SVO, 12 OVS) and chose one of two images (printed side‐by‐side on paper) that correctly depicted the meaning of each sentence.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CONSTRUCTION LEARNING STUDIES CARried out by Goldberg and colleagues have shown that first language (L1) speakers of English can comprehend and produce the novel construction of appearance (N 1 N 2 V), with the corresponding meaning of N 1 ‘appears in/on’ N 2 (e.g., the spot the king moopoed ) after relatively brief language exposure (Boyd, Gottschalk, & Goldberg, ; Casenhiser & Goldberg, ; Goldberg & Casenhiser, ; Goldberg, Casenhiser, & Sethuraman, ; Goldberg, Casenhiser, & White, ). However, construction learning studies with second language (L2) speakers have reported far greater variability with a variety of constructions, including the appearance construction and Samoan ergative constructions (Nakamura, ), Esperanto transitives (Fulga & McDonough, ; McDonough & Fulga, ; McDonough & Trofimovich, , ), and English datives (McDonough & Nekrasova–Becker, ; Year & Gordon, ). These studies have shown that L2 speakers experience considerable difficulty when learning new patterns.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…These studies have shown that L2 speakers experience considerable difficulty when learning new patterns. Researchers have speculated that a variety of factors may account for this difficulty, including the explicitness of the classroom learning environment (Year & Gordon, 2009), L1 background (Fulga & McDonough, 2016;McDonough & Fulga, 2015), processing strategies (Fulga & McDonough, 2016;McDonough & Trofimovich, 2015), and task instructions (McDonough & Trofimovich, 2013).…”

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The Role of Statistical Learning and Working Memory in L2 Speakers’ Pattern Learning

McDonough

Trofimovich

2016

The Modern Language Journal

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This study investigated whether second language (L2) speakers' morphosyntactic pattern learning was predicted by their statistical learning and working memory abilities. Across three experiments, Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students (N = 140) were exposed to either the transitive construction in Esperanto (e.g., tauro batas cevalon, "bull hits horse") or the nonprototypical English double-object dative construction (e.g., John built the table a leg). They also completed an aural test of statistical learning and a spoken backward digit-span test of working memory. In Experiment 1, only statistical learning was predictive of Esperanto pattern learning. Experiment 2 targeted pattern learning of the English nonprototypical double-object dative construction. Although working memory was associated with performance in the exposure phase, only statistical learning predicted test performance, as in Experiment 1. Finally, Experiment 3 served as a control condition in which participants were exposed to prototypical datives only during the exposure phase. This experiment showed that neither statistical learning nor working memory were associated with exposure or test performance. The findings are discussed in terms of the engagement of statistical learning and working memory during L2 pattern learning.Keywords: L2 pattern learning; statistical learning; working memory CONSTRUCTION LEARNING STUDIES CARried out by Goldberg and colleagues have shown that first language (L1) speakers of English can comprehend and produce the novel construction of appearance (N 1 N 2 V), with the corresponding meaning of N 1 'appears in/on' N 2 (e.g., the spot the king moopoed) after relatively brief language exposure (Boyd, Gottschalk, & Goldberg, 2009;Casenhiser & Goldberg, 2005;Goldberg & Casenhiser, 2008;Goldberg, Casenhiser, & Sethuraman, 2004;Goldberg, Casenhiser, & White, 2007). However, construction learning studies with second language (L2) speakers have reported far greater variability with a variety of constructions, including the appearance construction and Samoan ergative constructions (Nakamura, 2012), Esperanto transitives (Fulga & McDonough, 2016;McDonough & Fulga, 2015;McDonough & Trofimovich, 2013, 2015, and English datives (McDonough & Nekrasova-Becker, 2014;Year & Gordon, 2009). These studies have shown that L2 speakers experience considerable difficulty when learning new patterns. Researchers have speculated that a variety of factors may account for this difficulty, including the explicitness of the classroom learning environment

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“…Construction learning studies have reported considerable variability in second language (L2) speakers’ success at learning novel morphosyntactic patterns following brief exposure to meaning-based, comprehension activities (Fulga & McDonough, 2016; McDonough & Fulga, 2015; McDonough & Trofimovich, 2013, 2015, 2016; Nakamura, 2012; Year & Gordon, 2009). For example, previous studies that investigated L2 speakers’ ability to learn the key morphological (accusative – n case marking) and syntactic (variable word order: SVO or OVS) features of the Esperanto transitive construction (as in bubalo pelas kapron [SVO] and kapron pelas bubalo [OVS] “buffalo chases goat”) reported an average success rate of only 23% (Fulga & McDonough, 2016; McDonough & Fulga, 2015; McDonough & Trofimovich, 2016).…”

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Eye Gaze and Production Accuracy Predict English L2 Speakers’ Morphosyntactic Learning

McDonough¹,

Trofimovich²,

Dao³

et al. 2016

Stud Second Lang Acquis

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This study investigated the relationship between second language (L2) speakers’ success in learning a new morphosyntactic pattern and characteristics of one-on-one learning activities, including opportunities to comprehend and produce the target pattern, receive feedback from an interlocutor, and attend to the meaning of the pattern through self- and interlocutor-initiated eye-gaze behaviors. L2 English students (N = 48) were exposed to the transitive construction in Esperanto (e.g., filino mordas pomon [SVO] or pomon mordas filino [OVS] “girl bites apple”) through comprehension and production activities with an interlocutor, receiving feedback in the form of recasts for their Esperanto errors. The L2 speakers’ interpretation and production of Esperanto transitives were then tested using known and novel lexical items. The results indicated that OVS test performance was predicted by the duration of self-initiated eye gaze to images illustrating the OVS pattern during the comprehension learning activity and by accurate production of OVS sentences during the production learning activity. The findings suggest important roles for eye-gaze behavior and production opportunities in L2 pattern learning.

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Structural priming and the acquisition of novel form-meaning mappings

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

The Detection and Primed Production of Novel Constructions

The Detection and Primed Production of Novel Constructions

The Role of Statistical Learning and Working Memory in L2 Speakers’ Pattern Learning

Eye Gaze and Production Accuracy Predict English L2 Speakers’ Morphosyntactic Learning

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