HomePsychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journalvol. 16 no. 6 (2023)

The Influence of Working Memory on Second Language Processing Outcomes of Language Learners

Shan Ralph Mateo

Discipline: English studies

 

Abstract:

This study was conducted to determine which domains of working memory significantly influence the second language processing outcomes of grade 10 language learners. The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental method employing causal effect to describe existing characters. Mean, Pearson r, and Multiple Regression Analysis were the statistical tools used to determine the level, relationship, and influence of each variable. The respondents comprised 332 grade 10 students from the main secondary schools from the four districts in the Division of Compostela Valley, Province of Compostela Valley in random selection, 125 from School A, 77 from School B, 88 from School C and 42 from School D for the school-year 2018-2019. The findings of the study revealed a high level of working memory in terms of planning, problem-solving, reasoning, and first language comprehension. This study also revealed that the level of second language processing outcomes was high in terms of second language comprehension and second language production. The correlation between the two variables of the study revealed a significant relationship between working memory and second language processing outcomes of language learners. Lastly, the study revealed that all the domains of working memory: planning, problem-solving, reasoning, and first language comprehension, significantly influence second language processing outcomes of language learners.



References:

  1. Abu-Rabia, S. (2001). Testing the interdependence hypothesis among native adult bilingual Russian-English students. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 30, 437–455. 
  2. Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. (2008). Control mechanisms in bilingual language production: Neural evidence from language switching studies. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 557–582. 
  3. Archibald LMD and Harder-Griebeling K (2016) Rethinking the connection between working memory and language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 51: 252–64.
  4. Archibald LMD and Joanisse MF (2009) On the sensitivity and specificity of non-word   repetition and sentence recall to language and memory impairments in children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 52: 899–914. 
  5. Archibald, L. M. D., & Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Short-term and working memory in specific language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 41(6), 675–693. doi:10.1080/13682820500442602. 
  6. Archibald, L. M. D., & Gathercole, S. E., (2007). The complexities of complex memory span: Storage and processing deficits in specific language impairment. Journal of Memory and Language, 57, 177–194. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2006.11.004. 
  7. Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press. 
  8. Baddeley, A. Working memory: looking back and looking forward. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 4, 829–839 (2003). 
  9. Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York, NY: Academic Press. 
  10. Baddeley, A. D., & Logie, R. H. (1999). Working memory: The multiple component model. In A.Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 28–61). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 
  11. Baddeley, A.D.; Hitch, G. Working Memory. In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory; Bower, G.A., Ed.; Academic Press: New York, NY, USA, 1974; pp. 47–89. 
  12. Baddeley, A.D. Working Memory, Thought, and Action; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2007. 
  13. Bays, P.M., Gorgoraptis, N., Wee, N., Marshall, L. & Husain, M. Temporal dynamics of encoding, storage, and reallocation of visual working memory. J. Vis. 11, 6 (2011).
  14. Berwick, R. C., Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N., & Bolhuis, J. J. (2013). Evolution, brain, and the nature of language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17, 89–98. 
  15. Bialystok, E. Attentional control in children’s metalinguistic performance and measures of field independence. Dev. Psychol. 1992, 28, 654–664. Retrieved on June 29, 2018
  16. Bialystok, E. Effect of bilingualism and computer video game experience on the Simon task. Can. J. Exp. Psychol. 2006, 60, 68–79. 
  17. Bialystok, E.; Craik, F.I.M.; Klein, R.; Viswanathan, M. Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychol. Aging 2014, 19, 290–303. 
  18. Bowles, Adam. “Bonjour, Teacher. Guten Tag, Too.” New York Times. 13 Jan. 2002. 
  19. Budd, D., Whitney, P., & Turley, K. J. (1995). Individual differences in working memory strategies for reading expository text. Memory & Cognition, 23, 735-748. 
  20. Bundesen, C., Habekost, T. & Kyllingsbæk, S. A neural theory of visual attention: bridging cognition and neurophysiology. Psychol. Rev. 112, 291–328 (2005). 
  21. Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, E. P. (2012). Children's reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 31-42. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.31.
  22. Carminati, M. N., and Knoeferle, P. (2013). Effects of speaker emotional facial expression and listener age on incremental sentence processing. PLOS ONE 8:e72559. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072559.
  23. Carroll, J. B. (1985). Second-language abilities. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Human abilities: An information-processing approach (pp. 83– 103). New York, NY: W. 
  24. Carroll, Susanne E. & Joseph W. Windsor. 2015. Segmental targets versus lexical interference: Production of second-language targets on first exposure with minimal training. In Hagen Peukert (ed.), Transfer effects in multilingual language development, 53–85. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 
  25. Carroll, Susanne E. 2014. Processing ‘words’ in early stage SLA: A comparison of first exposure and early stage learners. In Zhao Hong Han & Rebekah Rast (eds.), First exposure to a second language acquisition, 107–138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
  26. Catts, H. W., Tomblin, J. B., Compton, D. L., & Bridges, M. S. (2013). Prevalence and nature of late-emerging poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 166-181. doi:10.1037/a0025323. 
  27. Cirrin, F.M., & Gillam, R.B. (2008). Language intervention practices for school-age children with spoken language disorders: A systematic review. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools, 39, S110-S137. 
  28. Coughlin, C. E., & Tremblay, A. (2013). Proficiency and working memory based explanations for nonnative speakers’ sensitivity to agreement in sentence processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 615–646. doi:10.1017/S0142716411000890. 
  29. Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. Hove, UK: Psychology Press 
  30. Cowan, N. (2014). Working memory underpins cognitive development, learning, and education. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 197– 223. 
  31. Cummins, J. (2013). The role of research on literacy, poverty and diversity in transforming schools: A critical analysis of PISA cross-national findings. In    R. A. DeVillar, B. Jiang, & J. Cummins (Eds.), Transforming education: Global perspectives, experiences and implications (pp. 17–39). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. 
  32. Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1983). Individual differences in integrating information between and within sentences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 9, 561- 583. 
  33. Daneman, M., & Merikle, P. M. (1996). Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, 422–433. doi:10.3758/BF03214546.
  34. Diamond, A. The early development of executive function. In Lifespan Cognition: Mechanisms of Change; Bialystok, E., Craik, F., Eds.; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2006; pp. 70–95. 
  35. Desai, Z. (1994). A ‘deeply disabling’ policy.De ZuidAfrikaan: In-depth Report, 24-26. 
  36. De Villiers, S.U. (1997). Task based syllabus for English in South African primary schools. Potchefstroom: Potchefstroomse UniversiteitvirChristelike Hoer Onderwys. 
  37. Droop, M., & Verhoeven, L. (2003). Language proficiency and reading ability in first- and second-language learners. Reading Research Quarterly, 38, 78-103. doi:10.1598/RRQ.38.1.4. 
  38. Dumontheil I, Klingberg T (2013) Brain activity during a visuospatial working memory task predicts arithmetical performance 2 years later. Cereb Cortex 22:1078 –1085. 
  39. Engle, R. W. (2001). What is working memory capacity? In H. L. Roediger III, J. S. Nairne, I. Neath, & A. M. 
  40. Suprenant (Eds.), The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder (pp. 297–314). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 
  41. Emrich, S.M. & Ferber, S. Competition increases binding errors in visual working memory. J. Vis. 12, 12 (2013). 
  42. Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 19–23. doi:10. 1111/1467-8721.00160. 
  43. Erçetin, G., & Alptekin, C. (2013). The explicit/implicit knowledge distinction and working memory: Implications for secondlanguage reading comprehension. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 727–753. doi:10.1017/s0142716411000932. 
  44. Ferreira, F. & Patson, N. D. (2007). The ‘good enough’ approach to language comprehension. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1, 71-83. 
  45. Friso-van den Bos, I., Van der Ven, S. H. G., Kroesbergen, E. H., & Van Luit, J. E. H. (2013). Working memory and mathematics in primary school children: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review (2013), 10, 29-44. doi: 10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.003.
  46. Gathercole, S.E., Dunning, D.L., & Holmes. J. (2012). Cogmed training: let ’ s be realistic about intervention research. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 201–203. 
  47. Gathercole SE, Pickering SJ, Knight C, Stegmann Z (2004) Working memory skills and educational attainment: evidence from national curriculum assessments at 7 and 14 years of age. Appl Cogn Psychol 18:1–16. 
  48. Gathercole, S. E., & Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence  Erlbaum.
  49. Green, D. J. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 67–81. 
  50. Green, D.W.; Abutalebi, J. Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. J. Cogn. Psychol. 2013, 25, 515–530. 
  51. Harrison, T. L., Shipstead, Z., Hicks, K. L., Hambrick, D. Z., Redick, T. S., & Engle, R. W. (2013). Working memory training may increase working memory capacity but not fluid intelligence. Psychological Science. doi:10.1177/0956797613492984. Advance online publication. 
  52. Hernandez, A. E., & Meschyan, G. (2006). Executive function is necessary to enhance lexical processing in a less proficient L2: Evidence from fMRI during picture naming. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9, 177–188. 
  53. Holmes J and Gathercole SE (2013) Taking working-memory training from the laboratory into schools. Educational Psychologist 42: 99–107. 
  54. Jiang, Nan (2018). Second language processing.  
  55. Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, 137–166. 
  56. Just, M. A., & Carpernter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review, 99, 122-49. 
  57. Kapantzoglou M, Restrepo MA, Gray S, and Thompson MS (2015) Language ability groups in bilingual children: A latent profile analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 58: 1549–62. 
  58. Kieffer, M., & Vukovic, R. (2012). Components and context: Exploring sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 433-452. doi:10.1177/0022219411432683. 
  59. Klem M, Melby-Levråg M, Hagtvet B, Lyster SAH, Gustafsson JE, and Hulme C (2015) Sentence repetition is a measure of children’s language skills rather than working memory limitations. Developmental Science 18: 146–54. 
  60. Knoeferle, P., Urbach, T. P., and Kutas, M. (2014). Different mechanisms for role relations versus verb–action congruence effects: evidence from ERPs in picture–sentence verification. Acta Psychol. 152, 133–148. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.08.004. 
  61. Kuhl, P. K. (2007). Is speech learning “gated” by the social brain? Dev. Sci. 10, 110–120. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00572. 
  62. Kuperberg, Gina R., & Jaeger, T. Florian. (2016). What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(1), 32-59. 
  63. Lewis, S. (2013). Pragmatic enrichment in language processing and development. PhD dissertation, University of Maryland. 
  64. Lidz, J. (2014). Quantification and scope in child language. To appear in Oxford Handbook of Developmental Linguistics. 
  65. Linck, J. A., & Weiss, D. J. (2011). Working memory predicts the acquisition of explicit L2 knowledge. In C. Sanz & R. P. Leow (Eds.), Implicit and explicit language learning: Conditions, processes, and knowledge in SLA and bilingualism (pp. 101–114). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 
  66. Linck, J.A.; Weiss, D.J. (2011) Working memory predicts the acquisition of explicit L2 knowledge. In Implicit and Explicit Lang. Learning: Conditions, Processes, and Knowledge in SLA and Bilingualism; Sanz, C., Leow, R.P., Eds.; Georgetown University Press: Washington, DC, USA; pp. 101–114. 
  67. Linck, J. A., Hughes, M. M., Campbell, S. G., Silbert, N. H., Tare, M., Jackson, S. R., & Doughty, C. J. (2013). Hi-LAB: A new measure of aptitude for high-level language proficiency. Language Learning, 63, 530–566. doi:10.1111/lang.12011. 
  68. Linck, J. A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J. T., & Bunting, M. F. (2014). Working memory and second language comprehension and production: J. A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 861-883. doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0565-2. 
  69. Logie, R.; Gilhooly, K.; Wynn, V. (2008) Counting on working memory in arithmetic problem solving. Mem. Cogn., 22, 395–410. 
  70. Logie, R. H., Horne, M. J., & Pettit, L. D. (2015). When cognitive performance does not decline across the lifespan. In R. H. Logie & R. Morris (Eds.), Working memory and ageing (pp. 21–47). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
  71. MacDonald M. C. (1994). Probabilistic constraints and syntactic ambiguity resolution. Language and Cognitive Process. 9, 157–201. Retrieved on June 30, 2018
  72. MacDonald, M. C., Pearlmutter, N. J., and Seidenberg, M. S. (1994). The lexical nature of syntactic ambiguity resolution. Psychol. Rev. 101, 676–703. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.101.4.676. 
  73. Martin, K. I., & Ellis, N. C. (2012). The roles of phonological short-term memory and working memory in L2 grammar and vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34, 379–413. 
  74. Martin, R.C. and Slevc L.R. (2014). Language production and memory. 
  75. Melby-Lerväg, M., Redick, T. S., & Hulme, C. (2016). Working memory training does not improve performance on measures of intelligence or other measures of “far 292 transfer”: Evidence from a meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 512–534. doi:10.1177/1745691616635612. 
  76. Miller, P., & Kupfermann, A. (2009). The role of visual and phonological representations in the processing of written words by readers with diagnosed dyslexia: Evidence from a working memory task. Annals of Dyslexia, 59, 12-33. 
  77. Miyake, A.; Friedman, N.; Emerson, M.; Witzki, A.; Howerter, A.; Wager, T.D. ( 2013) The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cogn. Psychol. 2000, 41, 49–100. 
  78. Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (1998). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Working memory as language aptitude. In A. F. Healy & L. E. Bourne (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies on training and retention (pp. 339–364). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 
  79. Nakamoto, J., Lindsey, K., & Manis, F. (2013). A longitudinal analysis of English language learners’ word decoding and reading comprehension. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20, 691-719. doi:10.1007/s11145-006-9045-7. 
  80. Nevo E, Breznitz Z. The development of working memory from kindergarten to first grade in children with different decoding skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2013;114:217–228. 
  81. Nevo, E., & Breznitz, Z. (2013). The development of working memory from kindergarten to first grade in children with different decoding skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(2), 217–228. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.09.004. 
  82. Novick, J. M., Hussey, E., Teubner-Rhodes, S., Harbison, J. I., & Bunting, M. F. (2013). Clearing the garden-path: Improving sentence processing through cognitive control training. Language and Cognitive Processes. doi:10.1080/01690965.2012.758297. Advance online publication. 
  83. Novick, J. M., Hussey, E., Teubner-Rhodes, S., Harbison, J. I., & Bunting, M. F. (2013). Clearing the garden-path: Improving sentence processing through cognitive control training. Language and Cognitive Processes. doi:10.1080/01690965.2012.758297. Advance online publication. 
  84. Novick, J. M., Trueswell, J. C., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2005). Cognitive control and parsing: Re-examining the role of Broca’s area in sentence comprehension. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 5, 263–281. 
  85. Pauls, L., & Archibald, L. (2013). Outcomes for language and related domains following narrative or working memory intervention. Poster presented at American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL. 
  86. Pauls, L., & Archibald, L. (2014). Language sample analysis for language or working memory impairment: Using the right measuring stick. Poster presented at Symposium for Research on Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI. 
  87. Pearl, L., & Sprouse, J. (2013). Syntactic islands and learning biases: Combining experimental syntax and computational modeling to investigate the language acquisition problem. Language Acquisition, 20, 23-68. 
  88. Phillips, C., & Lewis, S. (2013). Derivational order in syntax: Evidence and architectural consequences. Studies in Linguistics, 6, 11–47. 
  89. Phillips, C. & Ehrenhofer, L. (2015): The role of language processing in language acquisition. In: Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 5 (4), pp. 409-453, 2015, (target article with 17 commentaries & response). 
  90. Pickering, M. J., and Garrod, S. (2009). Prediction and embodiment in Shibuya, H. & Bundesen, C. Visual selection from multi-element displays:  measuring and modeling effects of exposure duration. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 14, 591–600 (1988). 
  91. Shipstead, Z., Trani, A. N., Harrison, T. L., Redick, T. S., Sloan, P., Bunting, M. F. Engle, R. W. (2013). Working memory capacity and executive functions, Part 2: Language comprehension. Manuscript submitted for publication. 
  92. Shipstead, Z., Lindsey, D. R. B., Marshall, R. L., & Engle, R. W. (2013). The mechanisms of working memory capacity: Primary memory, secondary memory and resistance to attention capture. Manuscript in preparation. 
  93. Shipstead, Z., Trani, A. N., Harrison, T. L., Redick, T. S., Sloan, P., Bunting, M. F. Engle, R. W. (2013). Working memory capacity and executive functions, Part 2: Language comprehension. Manuscript submitted for publication. 
  94. Smith, M. S. (2017). Working with memory and language. doi.org/10.1177/0267658317719315. 
  95. Tokowicz, N., Michael, E. B., & Kroll, J. F. (2004). The roles of study abroad experience and working-memory capacity in the types of errors made during translation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 255–272. 
  96. Tom Rankin, T. (2016). (Working) memory and l2 acquisition and processing. Volume: 33 issue: 3, page(s): 389-399. doi/10.1177/0267658316645387?icid=int.sj-related-articles.similar-articles.1. 
  97. Tunmer, W. E., & Chapman, J. W. (2013). The simple view of reading redux: Vocabulary knowledge and the independent components hypothesis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 453-466. doi:10.1177/0022219411432685. 
  98. Tunmer, W. E., & Chapman, J. W. (2014). The simple view of reading redux: Vocabulary knowledge and the independent components hypothesis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 453-466. doi:10.1177/0022219411432685. 
  99. Van Patten, Bill and Jessica Williams (2007) Theories in second language acquisition. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 
  100. Wen Z (2016) Working memory and second language learning: An integrated approach. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 
  101. Wen, Z., Biedron, A. and Skehan, P. (2016, forthcoming) Foreign language aptitude theory: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Language Teaching. 
  102. Williams, J. N. (2011). Working memory and SLA. In S. M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 427–441). New York, NY: Routledge.
  103. Wingfield, A., and Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. "Language and Speech." In Handbook of Aging and Cognition, 2d ed. Edited by F. I. M. Craik and T. A. Salthouse. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 2000. Pages 359–416. 
  104. Yang, C. (2002). Knowledge and learning in natural language. Oxford University Press.