Showing papers in "Applied Psycholinguistics in 2006"

Grammatical Processing in Language Learners.

Abstract: The ability to process the linguistic input in real time is crucial for successfully acquiring a language, and yet little is known about how language learners comprehend or produce language in real time. Against this background, we have conducted a detailed study of grammatical processing in language learners using experimental psycholinguistic techniques and comparing different populations (mature native speakers, child first language [L1] and adult second language [L2] learners) as well as different domains of language (morphology and syntax). This article presents an overview of the results from this project and of other previous studies, with the aim of explaining how grammatical processing in language learners differs from that of mature native speakers. For child L1 processing, we will argue for a continuity hypothesis claiming that the child's parsing mechanism is basically the same as that of mature speakers and does not change over time. Instead, empirical differences between child and mature speaker's processing can be explained by other factors such as the child's limited working memory capacity and by less efficient lexical retrieval. In nonnative (adult L2) language processing, some striking differences to native speakers were observed in the domain of sentence processing. Adult learners are guided by lexical–semantic cues during parsing in the same way as native speakers, but less so by syntactic information. We suggest that the observed L1/L2 differences can be explained by assuming that the syntactic representations adult L2 learners compute during comprehension are shallower and less detailed than those of native speakers.

Nonword repetition and word learning: The nature of the relationship.

Abstract: This article presents a theoretical framework designed to accommodate core evidence that the abilities to repeat nonwords and to learn the phonological forms of new words are closely linked. Basic findings relating nonword repetition and word learning both in typical samples of children and adults and in individuals with disorders of language learning are described. The theoretical analysis of this evidence is organized around the following claims: first, that nonword repetition and word learning both rely on phonological storage; second, that they are both multiply determined, constrained also by auditory, phonological, and speech–motor output processes; third, that a phonological storage deficit alone may not be sufficient to impair language learning to a substantial degree. It is concluded that word learning mediated by temporary phonological storage is a primitive learning mechanism that is particularly important in the early stages of acquiring a language, but remains available to support word learning across the life span.

Effects of Bilingualism, Noise, and Reverberation on Speech Perception by Listeners with Normal Hearing

Abstract: This study compared monosyllabic word recognition in quiet, noise, and noise with reverberation for 15 monolingual American English speakers and 12 Spanish–English bilinguals who had learned English prior to 6 years of age and spoke English without a noticeable foreign accent. Significantly poorer word recognition scores were obtained for the bilingual listeners than for the monolingual listeners under conditions of noise and noise with reverberation, but not in quiet. Although bilinguals with little or no foreign accent in their second language are often assumed by their peers, or their clinicians in the case of hearing loss, to be identical in perceptual abilities to monolinguals, the present data suggest that they may have greater difficulty in recognizing words in noisy or reverberant listening environments.

Continuity and Shallow Structures in Language Processing.

Abstract: The core idea that we argued for in the target article was that grammatical processing in a second language (L2) is fundamentally different from grammatical processing in one's native (first) language (L1). Our major source of evidence for this claim comes from experimental psycholinguistic studies investigating morphological and syntactic processing in child and adult native speakers, and nonnative speakers who acquired their L2 after childhood and for whom their L1 is the dominant language. With respect to child L1 processing, we argued for a continuity of parsing hypothesis claiming that the child's structural parser is basically the same as that of mature speakers and does not change over time. Adult L2 learners, in contrast, were seen to underuse syntactic information during sentence processing and to rely more on lexical–semantic cues to interpretation. To account for the observed L1/L2 differences in processing, we proposed the shallow structure hypothesis (SSH) according to which the representations adult L2 learners compute during processing contain less syntactic detail than those of child and adult native speakers.

The effect of perceptual availability and prior discourse on young children's use of referring expressions.

Abstract: Choosing appropriate referring expressions requires assessing whether a referent is “available” to the addressee either perceptually or through discourse In Study 1, we found that 3- and 4-year-olds, but not 2-year-olds, chose different referring expressions (noun vs pronoun) depending on whether their addressee could see the intended referent or not In Study 2, in more neutral discourse contexts than previous studies, we found that 3- and 4-year-olds clearly differed in their use of referring expressions according to whether their addressee had already mentioned a referent Moreover, 2-yearolds responded with more naming constructions when the referent had not been mentioned previously This suggests that, despite early social–cognitive developments, (a) it takes time tomaster the given/new contrast linguistically, and (b) children understand the contrast earlier based on discourse, rather than perceptual context

Phonological memory and lexical, narrative, and grammatical skills in second language oral production by adult learners

Abstract: This study investigated the role of phonological memory (PM) in second language (L2) speech production by English-speaking adults who were learning Spanish PM, operationalized as serial nonword recognition, and L2 lexical, narrative, and grammatical abilities from speech samples were assessed 13 weeks apart After controlling for the amount of speech output, PM contributed significantly to the development of L2 narrative skills for less proficient participants (175% of variance explained) and to gains in correct use of function words for more proficient participants (157% of variance explained) These findings suggest that PM plays an important role in narrative development at earlier stages of L2 learning and in the acquisition of grammatical competence at later stages

Evaluating the Effects of Chronological Age and Sentence Duration on Degree of Perceived Foreign Accent.

Abstract: Immigrants' age of arrival (AOA) in a country where a second language (L2) must be learned has consistently been shown to affect the degree of perceived L2 foreign accent. Although the effect of AOA appears strong, AOA is typically correlated with other variables that might influence degree of foreign accent. This study examined the pronunciation of English by native Italian immigrants to Canada who differed in AOA. As in previous research, those who arrived as young adults (late learners) were somewhat older at the time of testing, and produced somewhat longer English sentences, than those who arrived in Canada when they were children (early learners). The results of Experiment 1 showed that the greater chronological age of early than late learners was not responsible for the late learners' stronger foreign accents. Experiment 2 suggested that the late learners' longer L2 sentences were not responsible for observed early–late foreign accent differences. A principle components analysis revealed that variation in AOA and language use, but not chronological age or sentence duration, accounted for a significant amount of variance in the foreign accent ratings. The findings of the study were interpreted to mean that AOA effects on foreign accent are due to the development of the native language phonetic system rather than to maturational constraints on L2 speech learning.

Learning about the Letter Name Subset of the Vocabulary: Evidence from US and Brazilian Preschoolers.

Abstract: To examine the factors that affect the learning of letter names, an important foundation for literacy, we asked 318 US and 369 Brazilian preschoolers to identify each uppercase letter. Similarity of letter shape was the major determinant of confusion errors in both countries, and children were especially likely to interchange letters that were similar in shape as well as name. Errors were also affected by letter frequency, both general frequency and occurrence of letters in children’s own names. Differences in letter names and letter frequencies between English and Portuguese led to certain differences in the patterns of performance for children in the two countries. Other differences appeared to reflect US children’s greater familiarity with the conventional order of the alphabet. Boys were overrepresented at the low end of the continuum of letter name knowledge, suggesting that some boys begin formal reading instruction lacking important foundational skills. A child’s ability to identify the letters of the alphabet by name is one of the best predictors of how readily he or she will learn to read. Kindergarten letter identification accounts for nearly one-third of the variance in reading ability in Grades 1 to 3, and it is almost as successful at predicting later reading skill as an entire reading readiness test (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Knowledge of letter names aids would-be readers and spellers in several ways (see Foulin, 2005). It helps them make some sense of printed words such as jail, where the entire name of one or more of the letters is heard in the spoken word. In addition, letter name knowledge helps children learn about the sound-symbolizing function of letters, because the phoneme that a letter represents is usually heard in the letter’s name. Effects of letter name knowledge on reading, spelling, and letter sound knowledge have been documented in languages as diverse as English (McBride-Chang, 1999; Treiman, Tincoff, Rodriguez, Mouzaki, & Francis, 1998), Portuguese (Abreu & Cardoso-Martins, 1998), and Hebrew (Levin, Patel, Margalit, & Barad, 2002). Given the foundational role of alphabet knowledge in literacy development, it is important to understand the processes involved in letter name learning. In the present study, we explore the hypothesis that these are the same processes

Phonological Development in Lexically Precocious 2-Year-Olds.

Abstract: To examine interactions between young children's vocabulary size and their phonological abilities, spontaneous language samples were collected from 24-month-olds with precocious lexicons, their age mates (24-month-olds with average-sized lexicons), and their vocabulary mates (30-month-olds with average-sized lexicons). Phonological ability was measured in a variety of ways, such as the number of different consonants that were targeted, the number of different consonants produced correctly, the percentage of consonants produced correctly, and the occurrence of phonological processes. The lexically precocious 24-month-olds were similar to their vocabulary mates on most measures of phonological ability, and both of these groups were generally superior to the 24-month-olds with smaller lexicons. These findings supported a hypothesized relationship between lexicon size and phonological performance, and demonstrated that 2-year-olds' phonological development is more closely related to size of the lexicon than chronological age.

The Role of Learner and Input Variables in Learning Inflectional Morphology.

Abstract: To examine effects of input and learner characteristics on morphology acquisition, 60 adult English speakers learned to inflect masculine and feminine Russian nouns in nominative, dative, and genitive cases. By varying training vocabulary size (i.e., type variability), holding constant the number of learning trials, we tested whether learners required a “critical mass” of vocabulary to generalize case marking patterns to new nouns. Cattell’s Culture-Fair IQ Test mediated the effect of type variability on success in generalizing case marking to new vocabulary: only participants with above-median CultureFair Test scores showed the predicted critical mass effect of better generalization with larger training vocabulary. These results demonstrate how individual differences in central executive functioning and attention allocation capacity can affect adult second language learning. Every natural language encompasses a highly complex system of categories at multiple levels of linguistic organization (Gomez & Gerkin, 2000; Lakoff, 1987). Language learners are faced with the task of organizing linguistic input in terms of phonological, semantic, pragmatic, lexical, morphological, and syntactic distinctions. This categorization problem is especially challenging to adult second language (L2) learners, who may be acquiring L2 categories based on limited input, and with potential interference from their knowledge of other languages (FrenckMestre, Foucart, & Caetano-Nunes, 2004; Gesi Blanchard, 1998; Hernandez, Li, & MacWhinney, 2005; MacWhinney, 1992). With respect to morphological categorization, languages vary enormously in the richness of their inflectional patterns. English, in particular, presents a very impoverished set of noun and verb inflections, relative to many other languages (e.g., Russian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Spanish). One feature of natural languages that is especially difficult for adult learners involves mastery of grammatical dependencies (Braine,

Complexities and constraints in nonword repetition and word learning

Abstract: Because words represent the building blocks upon which the facility to produce and comprehend language at all levels is based, the capacity of a child to learn words has immense impact on his or her developing abilities to communicate and engage properly with the outside world. Both the Keynote Article and the Commentaries in this issue demonstrate that this capacity to acquire vocabulary is neither singular nor simple. Children may fail to learn new words in as rapid and efficient manner as their peers for many reasons: they may, for example, have inadequate environmental experience of either the spoken and printed form of the language (Huttenlocher, Haight, Bryk, Seltzer, & Lyons, 1991), or they may have poor abilities to produce the sound contrasts of the language (Mirak & Rescorla, 1998). The focus of the present discussion lies somewhere in between these extremes of influence, in the intervening perceptual and cognitive processes that constitute the speech processing and word learning system. Here, too, complexities abound. The developing language system is characterized by dependencies between the multiple processes involved in processing and learning language (Bishop, 1997), rarely evincing the dramatic dissociations in adults with acquired language disorders that have served cognitive neuropsychology so well in its bid to identify a modular structure of the language system. Weaknesses in perceptual analysis of the sound structure of the language, in the storage of the resulting mental representations, and in the availability of existing representations that can support the processing of new words, often coexist within an individual. As a consequence, it can be extremely difficult to tease apart the developmental underpinnings of language acquisition. In this article, I argue that real progress toward understanding vocabulary acquisition requires a substantial and systematic body of research evidence designed to provide strong empirical challenges to existing (and new) hypotheses and theories. Whereas mere description is unlikely to lead to major advances, systematic experimental analysis and the specification of detailed theoretical accounts should result in a more complete understanding of the complexities and constraints of new word learning.

The Role of Language of Instruction and Vocabulary in the English Phonological Awareness of Spanish-English Bilingual Children.

Abstract: This study explores influences on bilingual children's phonological awareness (PA) performance in English, examining the role of language of instruction and vocabulary. English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual kindergartners and first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction were assessed in English PA and in English and Spanish vocabulary, as appropriate. Spanish-instructed bilinguals were more likely than English-instructed bilinguals or English monolinguals to treat diphthongs as two units, reflecting their analysis in Spanish phonology and orthography. Surprisingly, unbalanced bilinguals dominant in either English or Spanish scored better on English PA than children with approximately equal scores on the English and the Spanish vocabulary test. This finding suggests that familiarity with many lexical items within a language constitutes a source of analyzable phonological knowledge.

The Declarative/Procedural Model and the Shallow Structure Hypothesis.

Abstract: Clahsen and Felser (CF) have written a beautiful and important paper. I applaud their integrative empirical approach, and believe that their theoretical account is largely correct, if not in some of its specific claims, at least in its broader assumptions. CF directly compare their shallow structure hypothesis (SSH) with a model that my colleagues and I have proposed for aspects of the neurocognition of first and second language: the “declarative/procedural” (DP) model. Although some of CF's discussion accurately depicts the DP model and its relation to the data, they also make a few critical errors.Here, I first summarize the DP model in both first language (L1) and adult-learned second language (L2), in order to be able to contrast it with the SSH, and then address the relevant problems in CF. For further details on the DP model and L1, see Ullman (2001a, 2001c, 2004) and Ullman et al. (1997). For the model as it applies to L2, see Ullman (2001b, 2005).

Clarifying the Phonological Processing Account of Nonword Repetition.

Abstract: Individual differences in nonword repetition (NWR) show a particularly strong association with vocabulary acquisition for both first- (L1) and second-language (L2) learners, and they serve as a behavioral marker for specific language impairment (SLI) in children (Gathercole, 2006). However, this association is susceptible to alternative explanations.

The Production of Passives by Children with Specific Language Impairment Acquiring English or Cantonese.

Abstract: The production of passive sentences by children with specific language impairment (SLI) was studied in two languages, English and Cantonese. In both languages, the word order required for passive sentences differs from the word order used for active sentences. However, English and Cantonese passive sentences are quite different in other respects. We found that English-speaking children with SLI were less proficient than both same-age and younger typically developing peers in the use of passives, although difficulty could not be attributed to word order or a reliance on active sentences. Cantonese-speaking children with SLI proved less capable than same-age peers in their use of passive sentences but at least as proficient as younger peers. The implications of these cross-linguistic differences are discussed.

Syntactically cued text facilitates oral reading fluency in developing readers

Abstract: Can fluency in oral reading be facilitated by formatting text to preserve major syntactic boundaries? Seven-, 8-, and 9-year-old children read aloud passages under two text format conditions. In the structure-preserving condition, the ends of lines coincided with ends of clauses; in the phrase-disrupting condition, line breaks always interrupted a phrasal unit. Experiment 1 showed that oral reading fluency, as indexed by skill in phrasal reading, was rated higher when children were reading in the structure-preserving condition. In addition, the structure-preserving condition resulted in significantly fewer false starts at the beginning of lines following a return sweep. The results of Experiment 2, in which texts of varying levels of difficulty were read by slightly older readers, confirmed both findings. Measures of fluency were correlated with other language and reading measures; however, no effects of format were obtained on oral reading rate (words correct per minute). Taken as a whole, these findings indicate a benefit of keeping clausal units intact in promoting fluent reading by facilitating the transition from one line to the next.

Accessing Grammatical Gender in German: The Impact of Gender-Marking Regularities.

Abstract: The present study investigated whether German speakers compute grammatical gender on the basis of gender-marking regularities. To this purpose two experiments were run. In Experiment 1, participants had to assign the definite article to German nouns in an online task; in the second experiment, participants were confronted with German nouns as well as nonwords in an untimed gender assignment task. In the online experiment, which required the repetition of a visually presented noun with its corresponding definite article as fast as possible, reaction times show that the assignment of the definite determiner to a noun is not facilitated by gender-marking regularities. In an offline gender assignment task, however, participants profited from gender cues during gender assignment to nonwords.

Child-centered behaviors of caregivers with 12-month-old infants: Associations with passive joint engagement and later language

Abstract: This study investigates three aspects of social communication in 12-month-old infants and their caregivers: (a) caregiver conversational style, (b) caregiver gesture, and (c) infant engagement. Differences in caregiver behavior during passive joint engagement were associated with language outcomes. Although total mean duration of infant time in passive joint engagement was negatively associated with later language, caregiver contingent comments (CCCs) addressed to infants during passive joint engagements related to language learning. CCC utterances were found to co-occur with gesture, suggesting that CCC is an inherently multimodal conversational style. The positive association between CCCs during passive joint engagements and later language suggests that caregiver behavior is important, even at times when infants are not actively engaged with the caregiver.

Addressing semantics promotes the development of reading fluency

Abstract: In two experimental training studies we examined the hypothesis that an emphasis on the meaning of a word is more effective than merely focusing on the orthography to increase reading fluency. Reading delayed children from Grade 1 (mean age = 7.3 years) and two groups from Grade 2 (mean age = 8.3 and 7.8 years) repeatedly read words while focusing either on the orthography or on the semantics of the word. Furthermore, the claim that limited exposure duration during training further promotes fluency was examined. The results show that the semantic based exercises yield more effect than orthographic training, especially for Grade 2 students. No beneficial effect is found for limited presentation duration. The results strongly suggest that practice with printed words with a specific focus on the semantic characteristics effectively promotes the attainment of reading fluency.

Speech patterns in Cypriot-Greek late talkers

Abstract: The investigation longitudinally examined the phonetic skills of Cypriot-Greek children with late onset of expressive vocabulary. The rate of phonological development within short time increments and the identification of possible speech constraints motivating slow development of expressive language were examined. Participants were seven Cypriot-Greek children identified as late talkers, and seven age-matched normally developing counterparts. Phonetic skills were examined at ages 30, 33, and 36 months for both groups based on spontaneous language samples. Phonological analyses focused on the construction of all subjects' phonetic inventories over time. Both groups exhibited an increase of specific phoneme use over time. Late talkers had significantly poorer phonetic inventories when compared to the control group. Within the experimental group the analysis revealed the persistent omission of word-initial consonants. Results are discussed in terms of language-specific phonological constraints and their relation to slow development of speech.

Possible Manifestations of Shallow Processing in Advanced Second Language Speakers.

Abstract: The proposal by Clahsen and Felser (CF) has the potential of marking a turning point in second language (L2) acquisition research Contrary to much L2 research to date, it suggests that some of the differences between native and (advanced) nonnative speakers may be at the level of grammatical processing, rather than grammatical representations Accounting for L2 speakers' divergent behavior does therefore not necessarily involve positing “representational deficits”: L2 speakers can, and indeed do, attain target representations of the L2, but may compute incomplete (“shallow”) syntactic parses in comprehension Such shallow processing is often accompanied by reliance (or overreliance) on lexical, semantic, and pragmatic information, which can lead to seemingly trouble-free comprehension in ordinary communication It is only when speakers are faced with sentence ambiguities, which impose a greater than normal processing load, that the differences between adult L2 language acquirers and child first language (L1) acquirers become apparent: both child and adult language learners have difficulty in integrating structural and nonstructural information in on-line comprehension, but although children prioritize structural information, adult learners privilege nonstructural lexical–semantic information CF's proposal opens up new perspectives on the nature of ultimate attainment in adult L2 acquisition; at the same time it raises some questions that, in my view, are of crucial importance for future research

Beyond words: Phonological short-term memory and syntactic impairment in specific language impairment

Abstract: The assessment of nonword repetition in children goes back at least to 1974, when the Goldman–Fristoe–Woodcock Auditory Skills Battery was published, including a subtest (Sound Mimicry) assessing nonword repetition (Goldman, Fristoe, and Woodcock, 1974). Nevertheless, it was not until 20 years later, when Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) reported a study of short-term memory in children with specific language impairment (SLI), that a theoretical framework was developed linking deficits in nonword repetition to impaired language acquisition. Gathercole's Keynote in this issue (2006) tells the story of how this initial study revealed a striking nonword repetition deficit in children with SLI, complementing work on typically developing children showing a major role of phonological short-term memory (STM) in word learning. As she points out, the story is a complex one: phonological STM is not the only skill tapped by the nonword repetition task, and children may do poorly for different reasons. Furthermore, relationships between nonword repetition and word learning may be reciprocal, with vocabulary level affecting children's ability to segment nonwords efficiently and retain them in memory. However, the original finding, that deficient nonword repetition is a strong correlate of SLI, has stood the test of time, to the extent that poor performance on this test has been used successfully as a marker of a heritable phenotype in molecular genetic studies of SLI (Newbury, Monaco, and Bishop, 2005).

Do nonword repetition errors in children with specific language impairment reflect a weakness in an unidentified skill specific to nonword repetition or a deficit in simultaneous processing

Abstract: This Commentary supports Gathercole’s (2006) proposal on a double deficit in children with specific language impairment (SLI). The author suggests that these children have a limited phonological storage combined with a particular problem of processing novel speech, stimuli. According to Gathercole, there are three areas of skill contributing to memory for nonwords: general cognitive abilities, phonological storage, and an unidentified skill specific to nonword repetition The focus of this Commentary is to examine whether these children’s nonword repetition performance is influenced by an unidentified skill or some other processes. An alternative hypothesis is that the nonword repetition errors observed in children with SLI are related to one of their main weaknesses, to their difficulties in simultaneous processing of information. Evidence for this argument comes from our recent studies: from error analyses data and from findings on nonword repetition with stimuli that included meaningful parts (monosyllabic real words). Our earlier findings showed a deficit in simultaneous processing across verbal and nonverbal working memory tasks in children with SLI (linguistic span task, list recall, space visualization, etc.; Marton & Schwartz, 2003; Marton, Schwartz, Farkas, & Katsnelson, in press; Marton, Schwartz, Phinkasova, Roth, & Kelmenson, 2006). These children showed diminished primacy and recency effects in list recall tasks; they were not able to process the new incoming stimuli and rehearse the old information simultaneously. In the linguistic span task, children with SLI either repeated the sentence-final words/nonwords or answered the questions that targeted the sentence content. Again, they were not able to perform both operations concurrently. Their difficulties were not simply related to limitations in storage. Although these children remembered relatively few of the sentence-final words during testing, if testing was stopped and they were asked whether they could repeat the stimuli they were presented with, most children repeated entire sentences correctly. Thus, their difficulty was not in remembering long stimuli, but performing various tasks concurrently. In this Commentary, I suggest that nonword repetition is a task that requires simultaneous processing, a skill with which children with SLI have difficulty. The following findings from our studies are of relevance to this argument. According to a theory of phonological encoding in word retrieval, the phonemes of a word and the word’s metrical frame are processed separately. The “segment-to-frame association” theory (Biran & Friedmann, 2004; Levelt, 1992) suggests that segments/phonemes are inserted into the metrical frame of a word during phonological encoding. The metrical frame includes the number of syllables and information on the words’ stress pattern; the segmental part consists of information on the phonemes (consonants, vowels, clusters). In word retrieval, these two types of information are integrated by the mechanism of segment-to-frame association. Evidence comes from various speech errors in different populations, for example, stress exchange, anticipatory and perseveratory phoneme substitutions, and changes in syllabification (Biran & Friedmann, 2004; Meyer, 1992). Detailed analyses of nonword repetition errors of children with SLI and their typically developing (TLD) peers indicate that the majority of their errors are segment substitutions with notable assimilation errors (when the production of one part of the nonword influences the production of another part of the same nonword) in the former group. In contrast to the many segmental errors, the metrical frames of these nonwords are produced correctly; the number of syllables and the stress patterns are correct. In one of our earlier studies (Marton & Schwartz, 2003), we found that about 80% of all errors produced by the children with SLI were segmental errors: vowel and consonant substitutions with no syllable structure changes. These children repeated nonwords that consisted of the same number of syllables and stress patterns than the target stimuli. In our recent study (Marton et al., 2006), the percentage of nonwords produced with segment substitutions and segment order errors was 90% for the children with SLI and 92% for the children with TLD. Thus, the majority of the error nonwords resembled the metrical frame of the original stimulus. An increase in word length influenced nonword repetition in all groups; all children made more errors in repeating four-syllable nonwords than in repeating three-syllable nonwords (this result is in agreement with previous findings; e.g., Gathercole, Willis, & Baddeley; 1991; Montgomery, 1995). In addition to a group effect (children with SLI made significantly more errors than the children with TLD), the children also differed in the proportion of single versus multiple errors per nonword. If a child produced only one segmental error in a nonword, that was considered as a single error. If they produced several errors within the same nonword, those errors were categorized as multiple errors. Children with SLI not only produced more multiple errors than their age-matched and language-matched peers, but the proportion of multiple errors compared to the total number of errors increased with the increase in the number of syllables. The proportion of single versus multiple errors did not change with an increase in word length for the children with TLD (see Figure 1). Both control groups produced more single than multiple errors at each word length. Thus, children with SLI showed a different performance pattern in nonword repetition than the typically developing children as the amount of information that had to be processed concurrently increased. Figure 1 The proportion of single and multiple errors in nonword repetition. However, even with this decline in performance accuracy in the children with SLI, the distribution of error types remained the same. Children with SLI produced many multiple errors that consisted of segment substitutions, assimilations, and of a change in the original phonemic order. The number of syllables was in most cases the same as that in the target stimulus. The percentage of changes in the stress pattern was below 1% of all errors. Thus, the repetition of nonwords showed that the children with SLI were able to produce the correct metrical frame, but experienced difficulty when they had to integrate the segments with the frame. These data support the idea that metrical and segmental information are represented separately and accessed in parallel (Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 1999. The following part of this Commentary provides further evidence to the argument that nonword repetition requires simultaneous processing, and therefore, it is highly demanding on language-impaired children’s working memory. In our recent study (Marton et al, 2006), we compared nonword repetition accuracy of stimuli with no meaningful syllables to nonwords that consisted of one monosyllabic real word and two to three syllables that had no meaning. Previous research showed that children’s nonword repetition accuracy improves if the nonwords include meaningful syllables (Dollaghan, Biber, & Campbell, 1995). Our results showed a similar pattern for the age-matched and the language-matched groups. The children with SLI, however, did not show a difference in performance accuracy across the nonword lists (see Figure 2). Their performance did not improve, even when we ensured that they knew the words that were inserted in the nonwords. The children with TLD did benefit from their permanent knowledge, whereas the children with SLI did not take advantage of their long-term knowledge. Figure 2 Nonword repetition across lists One explanation for these findings is that the simultaneous processing of different phonological structures (metrical frame and segments) was so demanding for the children with SLI that they were not able to process the semantic information of the inserted monosyllabic words. There may be alternative interpretations of these data that focus on the access of long-term knowledge during working memory performance in children with SLI, but the current findings strongly support the idea that these children have extreme difficulty in tasks that require concurrent processing of information. In these situations, children with SLI are often not able to use even their existing knowledge to support their working memory performance. The results have further theoretical implications regarding the relations between working memory and the long-term lexicon; however, that discussion is outside the scope of the present paper. There are various functions that influence the simultaneous processing of information; one candidate for the difficulties observed in children with SLI is a weakness in attention switching. Complex tasks that involve the concurrent processing of information require continuous attention switching. Further research is needed to decide whether a deficit in this function influences these children’s performance in working memory tasks. In summary, this commentary provides an alternative explanation to the role of an unidentified skill for language-impaired children’s difficulty in nonword repetition. I argue that nonword repetition is a task that requires simultaneous processing of information, and that children with SLI show poor performance in situations where they have to perform concurrent tasks. In these tasks, they cannot even use their existing knowledge efficiently to support their working memory performance. Evidence comes from a number of studies and the pattern of performance is consistent across various experiments.

Dominance, proficiency, and second language grammatical processing

Abstract: Clahsen and Felser (CF) deserve praise for their superlative synthesis of literature relating to grammatical processing, as well as for their original contributions to this area of research. CF “explore the idea that there might be fundamental differences between child L1 and adult L2 processing.” The researchers present evidence that adult second language (L2) processing is often less automatic and less efficient than first language (L1) processing. Qualitative differences are suggested as well. Adult L2 processing may be restricted to shallow computations, whereas L1 processing typically involves detailed representations. These conclusions are reached in large part by comparing highly proficient L2 learners with natives on various neurological and behavioral dimensions of processing. I propose that additional comparisons might be carried out that involve an understudied population: learners whose L2 is their dominant language.

The developmental trajectory of nonword repetition

Abstract: In line with the original presentation of nonword repetition as a measure of phonological short-term memory (Gathercole & Baddeley, 1989), the theoretical account Gathercole (2006) puts forward in her Keynote Article focuses on phonological storage as the key capacity common to nonword repetition and vocabulary acquisition. However, evidence that nonword repetition is influenced by a variety of factors other than item length has led Gathercole to qualify this account. In line with arguments put forward by Snowling, Chiat, and Hulme (1991), one of Gathercole's current claims is that nonword repetition and word learning are constrained by “the quality of temporary storage of phonological representations, and this quality is multiply determined.” Phonological storage is not just a quantity-limited capacity.

The role of phonological storage deficits in specific language impairment: A reconsideration

Abstract: In her Keynote Article, Gathercole (2006) presents a theoretical framework intended to account for evidence regarding the relation between nonword repetition and word learning. This framework stems from an impressive amount and breadth of research on this topic, including findings from adults and children with typical language abilities as well as language learning disorders. In this commentary we focus on claims relative to the interpretation of nonword repetition deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI). One issue we address pertains to the nature of the proposed model of nonword processing and word learning, particularly with respect to phonological sensitivity and storage. The second issue we address relates to the assumption that a phonological storage deficit, although not sufficient, is necessary for SLI.

Nonword Repetition, Phonological Storage, and Multiple Determinations.

Abstract: The proposals that (a) nonword repetition and word learning both rely on phonological storage and (b) both are multiply determined are two of the major foci of Gathercole's (2006) Keynote Article, which marshals considerable evidence in support of each. In my view, the importance of these proposals cannot be overstated: these two notions go to the heart of the relationship between nonword repetition and word learning. Indeed, they figure prominently in the approach that my colleagues and I have taken to studying that relationship (e.g., Gupta, 2006; Gupta, Lipinski, Abbs, & Lin, 2005; Gupta & MacWhinney, 1997). An important aspect of our approach has been the attempt to construct a computational model that can simulate performance in a nonword repetition task and in a word learning task, the rationale being that a computational model that achieved this would constitute a proposal about the processing mechanisms that may underlie the relationship. In this Commentary, I describe how our computational work offers a concrete way of thinking about how nonword repetition and word learning may rely on phonological storage, and about how these abilities may be multiply determined. Such computational work is, I suggest, a valuable tool in further investigating the important relationship that has been revealed by Gathercole's influential work, and that is analyzed in the Keynote Article.

It is time to work toward explicit processing models for native and second language speakers

Abstract: In their target article, Clahsen and Felser (CF) review studies that they and others have conducted in recent years to confirm the dual mechanism hypothesis and to extend its application to first and second language (L1 and L2) learners. They interpret the findings as supporting both the dual mechanism hypothesis and the claim that the sentence-level processing of L2 but not L1 learners shows “striking” differences compared to adult native speakers. I argue that an exclusive focus on the representation of linguistic knowledge is insufficient for understanding the real-time processes in morphological production and sentence comprehension.

Nonword repetition and language learning disorders: A developmental contingency framework

Abstract: In 1990 Gathercole and Baddeley proposed a strong hypothesis that has generated a wealth of research in the field of language development and disorder. The hypothesis was that phonological memory, as indexed by nonword repetition, is causally related to vocabulary development. Support for the hypothesis came from an impressive range of longitudinal, correlational, and laboratory training studies, and from studies of specific language impairment (SLI). However, more recently, Gathercole, Tiffany, Briscoe, Thorn, and The ALSPAC Team (2005), directly tested the causal hypothesis by following a cohort of children from age 5 to 8 years. Contrary to prediction, children with poor nonword repetition abilities at age 5 had normal vocabulary at the age of 8.

Nonword Repetition and Levels of Abstraction in Phonological Knowledge.

Abstract: Susan Gathercole's Keynote Article (2006) is an impressive summary of the literature on nonword repetition and its relationship to word learning and vocabulary size. When considering research by Mary Beckman, Jan Edwards, and myself, Gathercole speculates that our finding of a stronger relationship between vocabulary measures and repetition accuracy for low-frequency sequences than for high-frequency sequences is due to differences in the range of the two measures. In our work on diphone repetition (e.g., Edwards, Beckman, & Munson, 2004; Munson, Edwards, & Beckman, 2005) we tried to increase the range in our dependent measures by coding errors on a finer grained scale than simple correct/incorrect scoring would allow. Moreover, restriction of range does not appear to be the driving factor in the relationship between vocabulary size and the difference between high- and low-frequency sequence repetition accuracy (what we call the frequency effect) in at least one of our studies (Munson et al., 2005). When the children with the 50 lowest mean accuracy scores for high-frequency sequences were examined, vocabulary size accounted for 10.5% of the variance in the frequency effect beyond what was accounted for by chronological age. When the 50 children with the highest mean accuracy scores for high-frequency sequences were examined (a group in which the range of high-frequency accuracy scores was more compressed, arguably reflecting ceiling effects), an estimate of vocabulary size accounted for only 6.9% of the frequency effect beyond chronological age. The associated β coefficient was significant only at the α<0.08 level. This is the opposite pattern than Gathercole's argument would predict.