SLA talk: Alicia Luque (Arctic U of Norway)
Zoom Meeting ID: 945 2125 8431 | Passcode: 628350
Disentangling the Inherent Diversity in Adult Language Learning Outcomes: How Psycholinguistics and the Study of Individual Differences Can Inform Instructed SLA
Abstract: In today's increasingly globalized world, many adults find themselves in a situation in which it is beneficial or even necessary to learn an additional language. Yet, learning a second language (L2) or reconnecting with one’s heritage language (HL) in adulthood is a complex and challenging endeavor, resulting in a great deal of variability for learning trajectories and outcomes. One way in which researchers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) work to better understand the best ways to support successful adult language learning is by examining the relative contribution a variety of different factors, both internal and external to the learner, play in explaining and/or predicting diverse adult language learning outcomes. In this talk, I report the results of a series of psycholinguistic studies aimed at elucidating the role that a subset of neurocognitive (cognitive control and brain oscillatory patterns) and linguistic factors (language experience and type of L2 knowledge-explicit vs implicit) play in successful L2 learning. In these studies, adult L2 learners with diverse learning experiences completed a series of linguistic and neurocognitive tasks to assess the relationship between the above factors and L2 outcomes. Results from these studies largely converge. They suggest that both neurocognitive and linguistic factors are deterministic and interactive for diversity in L2 learning trajectories and outcomes. Yet, the relative contribution of any particular factor can differ in combination with other factors that modulate them. For example, cognitive control matters but not necessarily in the same way along the developmental continuum. In other words, its weighting differs at various levels of linguistic proficiency. The implications of these results will be considered in the context of both theoretical, methodological, and applied questions related to Instructed SLA as well as to adult language learning more generally. Future research directions will also be discussed, including longitudinal research that examines the intersection of (neuro)cognitive abilities with socio-affective factors and learning contexts.
Bio: Dr. Alicia Luque is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Dr. Luque’s overarching research program is informed by the fields of (applied) linguistics, cognitive (neuro)science, language education, and social justice and focuses on understanding the causes behind the large variability in learning trajectories and outcomes that is often found among adult language learners, both for second language (L2) and heritage language (HL) learning, using a combination of behavioral and psycho/neurolinguistic methods. Specifically, the way Dr. Luque addresses this central question for SLA/bilingualism theory and practice in her research program is three-fold: (1) by exploring how different learner-internal and external factors interact to achieve proficient bilingualism, (2) by investigating the different ways in which the (becoming) bilingual experience affects (neuro)cognitive and linguistic function, and (3) by studying and contributing to develop more ecologically valid and inclusive ways to characterize bilingualism as the inherently diverse and dynamic life experience that it is.
