Diana Pili-Moss

Bio: Diana Pili-Moss is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Procedural memory & Declarative learning. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 7 citations.

The earliest stages of second language learning:a behavioural investigation of long-term memory and age

Abstract: A study with 40 L1 Italian 8-9 year old children and its replication with 36 L1 Italian adults investigated the role of declarative and procedural learning ability in the early stages of language learning. The studies investigated: (1) the extent to which memory-related abilities predicted L2 learning of form-meaning mapping between syntax and thematic interpretation, word order and case marking; and (2) the nature of the acquired L2 knowledge in terms of the implicit/explicit distinction. Deploying a computer game in incidental instruction conditions, the participants were aurally trained in the artificial language BrocantoJ over three sessions. Standardized memory tasks, vocabulary learning ability, and an alternating serial reaction time task provided measures of visual/verbal declarative and procedural learning ability. Language learning was assessed via a measure of comprehension during practice and a grammaticality judgment test. Generalized mixed-effects models fitted to both experimental datasets revealed that, although adults attained higher accuracy levels and were faster learners compared to children, the two groups did not differ qualitatively in what they learned. However, by the end of the experiment, adults displayed higher explicit knowledge of syntactic and semantic regularities. During practice, declarative learning ability predicted accuracy in both groups, but procedural learning ability significantly increased only in children. The procedural learning ability effect emerged again significantly only in the child grammaticality judgment test dataset. In the practice data declarative learning ability and vocabulary learning ability interacted negatively with procedural learning ability in children, whereas declarative learning ability interacted positively with procedural learning ability in adults. Moreover, the positive interaction in adults only obtained for a subset of practice stimuli, i.e. sentences where the processing of linking between morphosyntax and thematic interpretation was required. Overall, the findings support age-related differences and linguistic target differences in the way abilities related to long-term memory predict language learning.

1. Implicit and Explicit Learning, Knowledge and Instruction

Abstract: (1) Implicit learning proceeds without making demands on central attentional resources. As N. Ellis (2008: 125) puts it, ‘generalizations arise from conspiracies of memorized utterances collaborating in productive schematic linguistic productions’. Thus, the resulting knowledge is subsymbolic, reflecting statistical sensitivity to the structure of the learned material. In contrast, explicit learning typically involves memorizing a series of successive facts and thus makes heavy demands on working memory. As a result, it takes place consciously and results in knowledge that is symbolic in nature (i.e. it is represented in explicit form). (2) In the case of implicit learning, learners remain unaware of the learning that has taken place, although it is evident in the behavioral responses they make. Thus, learners cannot verbalize what they have learned. In the case of explicit learning, learners are aware that they have learned something and can verbalize what they have learned.

Contributions of declarative and procedural memory to accuracy and automatization during second language practice

Abstract: Extending previous research that has examined the relationship between long-term memory and second language (L2) development with a primary focus on accuracy in L2 outcomes, the current study explores the relationship between declarative and procedural memory and accuracy and automatization during L2 practice. Adult English native speakers had learned an artificial language over two weeks (Morgan-Short, Faretta-Stutenberg, Brill-Schuetz, Carpenter & Wong, 2014), producing four sessions of practice data that had not been analyzed previously. Mixed-effects models analyses revealed that declarative memory was positively related to accuracy during comprehension practice. No other relationships were evidenced for accuracy. For automatization, measured by the coefficient of variation (Segalowitz, 2010), the model revealed a positive relationship with procedural memory that became stronger over practice for learners with higher declarative memory but weaker for learners with lower declarative memory. These results provide further insight into the role that long-term memory plays during L2 development.

Selective effects of age of acquisition on morphological priming

Abstract: Is there an ideal time window for language acquisition after which nativelike representation and processing are unattainable? Although this question has been heavily debated, no consensus has been reached. Here, we present evidence for a sensitive period in language development and show that it is specific to grammar. We conducted a masked priming task with a group of Turkish-German bilinguals and examined age of acquisition (AoA) effects on the processing of complex words. We compared a subtle but meaningful linguistic contrast, that between grammatical inflection and lexical-based derivation. The results showed a highly selective AoA effect on inflectional (but not derivational) priming. In addition, the effect displayed a discontinuity indicative of a sensitive period: Priming from inflected forms was nativelike when acquisition started before the age of 5 but declined with increasing AoA. We conclude that the acquisition of morphological rules expressing morphosyntactic properties is constrained by maturational factors.