The Cambridge Handbook of Working Memory and Language (original) (raw)
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The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and psycholinguistics, 2022
Working memory is a cognitive space for simultaneous information manipulation and storage. In the field of second language acquisition, working memory has been investigated as a key individual difference variable mediating various aspects of the process and outcome of language learning. Despite the voluminous body of research, there has been confusion over its conceptualization, measurement, and mechanism, and the research has yielded disparate, and sometimes contradictory, findings. This chapter seeks to clarify the construct and navigate through the empirical evidence that has been accumulated over the past three decades with a view to extracting meaningful patterns and trends emerging from the research. The chapter starts with a discussion of the nature, scope, and architecture of working memory, followed by an introduction to the various tests that have been used to measure the construct and its components. The chapter proceeds to discuss the research on the role of working memory in second language acquisition including theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence on the associations between working memory and learning outcomes or processes. The chapter ends by identifying areas for future research.
Working memory and language: An overview of key topics
2021
Given these obvious gaps in the research literature, we thus set out to compile this comprehensive handbook, with the goal in mind to fill up all these lacunae from previous research. Furthermore, we also aim for theoretical ingenuity and empirical robustness in our individual chapter reviews and devote independent sections to key areas of foundational theories, including working memory models and measures in cognitive psychology, as well as incorporating working memory within well-established linguistic theories and processing frameworks. As far as we know, much of these have not been done before. As such, we are hoping that the comprehensive coverage of key topics in all these essential areas in our handbook will benefit researchers and students not just from psychology and linguistics, but also readers from all other related fields of cognitive sciences to draw insights and inspirations from the chapters herein.
This book introduces a principled approach to incorporating the construct of working memory (WM) into second language acquisition (SLA) research. Towards that end, I argue for an integrated framework of WM for SLA that draws on insights from established WM research in cognitive psychology as well as initial findings from SLA studies looking into the effects of WM. Within the framework, I also propose a set of general principles that serve as a basis for further studies probing the WM-SLA nexus. Applying some tenets from this framework, I report on an empirical study investigating the differential effects of WM constructs on L2 task-based speech planning and performance, culminating in forged links bridging WM components and their corresponding L2 speech performance measures. Further implications of this integrated framework of WM for SLA are also discussed in the context of “WM as foreign language aptitude”.
Beyond Philology An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching
The following paper discusses working memory as it functions during the acquisition of a second language by children. It analyses the results of a study conducted over a 12 month period on a group of 12 Polish children ages 10 to 14, learning English as a second language. The focus of this longitudinal study was the role that the verbal working memory plays in the acquisition of new structures; namely, the extent to which processing new information in working memory is essential to learning grammar and the possibility of developing strategies of using working memory itself during the learning process. The method adopted was a comparison of several oral tasks, including repetition and postponed repetition. As the conclusion to the discussion, certain didactic implications are presented, such as the need to control and modify the didactic process as to the degree to which it relies on working memory.
Working memory and (second) language processing
Abstract This chapter discusses the interactions between two of the most important human cognitive functions: memory and language. First, the concept of working memory is introduced, along with a brief summary of the evolutions that working memory theory has undergone in the last decades. The second part of the chapter focuses on the role of (verbal) working memory in language acquisition and processing.
Working memory and second language acquisition: Theory and findings
2016
This article presents a narrative review of research on working memory (WM) in order to offer a foundation for understanding issues in second language acquisition (SLA). In the first section, current psychological views on WM are described in terms of three distinct theoretical models associated with Baddeley, Cowan, and Engle. Based on this, general issues for WM theories are summarized and practical implications for research are stated. In the second section, empirical findings from SLA research on WM in three domains are discussed. These domains include learning conditions, cognitive processes, and linguistic outcomes. The review concludes with some brief reflections on the future of WM research in SLA.