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Learning a second language (L2) after early childhood is a challenge, and learners differ not only in how well they rise to this challenge, but presumably also in how they do it. For instance, a small minority of talented individuals is able to acquire a near-native accent in L2, despite the fact that the phonetic repertoire normally becomes dedicated to the native language within the first years of life. It seems thus plausible to assume that these learners have access to a different manner of phonetic learning. Different learning situations, e.g. learning a language in the classroom versus learning it by immersion, also seem likely to involve different acquisition mechanisms. However, we know almost nothing about such qualitative processing differences in L2 learning. Memory research, on the other hand, offers a number of dual-route or dual-system accounts that do describe different ways in which our brain stores and remembers information. The current project aims to use such theories and methods from memory research to investigate the hypotheses that there are several alternative routes to L2 learning, and that individuals, as well as situations, differ with respect to which of these routes is preferably taken. Both word / pronunciation and grammar learning are examined, assessing in how far language domains differ concerning the variability of learning routes. Since the research fields of second language acquisition (how we learn a new language) and of memory (how we learn something in general) have so far taken entirely different paths, the project is one of the first of its kind.
The European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant allows this topic to be studied from three directions, each constituting a project of its own:
This project focuses on L2 learning, declarative vs episodic memory, source memory, item memory, cortical reinstatement
Usually, one can tell the difference between a native and a non-native speaker by their accent. However, some people are able to produce near-native pronunciations in a second language learned after childhood (known as 'super-pronouncers'). This project investigates whether super-pronouncers display different phonetic memory processes by establishing the cognitive profiles of super-pronouncers (SPs) and 'regular' pronouncers (RPs). We investigate the novel hypothesis that SPs have stronger and longer-lasting episodic memory traces of L2 sounds, enabling them to mimic them accurately. We use behavioral measurements to investigate this hypothesis. Subsequently, the neural traces of the SP/RP differences will be investigated.
This project focuses on L2 word learning, effects of prior knowledge (schemas) and of instruction
Research into the neurocognition of memory has shown that learning of information that connects well with knowledge we already had before can create semantic memories more independently of the hippocampus, i.e. the episodic memory system, than entirely novel and ‘unconnected’ information. The aim of this research is to apply these findings to novel word learning, investigating whether words that are consistent with a learner’s prior knowledge (e.g. cognates: words that are similar as in L1) are learned differently and with less episodic memory involvement than those that do not resemble anything the learner already knows. For this, we monitor neural and behavioral markers of episodic memory.
This project focuses on L2 grammar learning, individual differences and learner types.
This project examines qualitative individual and situational differences in terms of how adults learn a new grammar, i.e., whether there are distinct ‘learner types’. Its primary aim is to distinguish between two hypothesized strategies of learning and processing grammar. These are known as 'rule-based' (RB) and 'similarity-based' (SB) strategies. An RB strategy involves individuals extracting and storing an abstract 'rule' that they refer to when producing correct utterances. In contrast, individuals with an SB strategy refer to previous (correct) examples they encountered and their similarity with the current instance to produce correct utterances. We are also interested in the impact of instructional context on rule extraction. We hope that this project will further our understanding of the qualitative differences in grammar learning.
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