The Role of Explicit Memory Across Second Language Syntactic Development : A Structural Priming Study

Coumel, Marion and Muylle, Merel and Messenger, Katherine and Hartsuiker, Robert J. (2024) The Role of Explicit Memory Across Second Language Syntactic Development : A Structural Priming Study. Language Learning, 74 (2). pp. 402-435. ISSN 0023-8333

[thumbnail of Ghent_Warwick_study_accepted]
Text (Ghent_Warwick_study_accepted)
Ghent_Warwick_study_accepted.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (1MB)

Abstract

We tested whether second language (L2) learners rely more on explicit memory during structural priming at lower than at higher proficiency levels (Hartsuiker & Bernolet, 2017). We compared within-L2 priming with lexical overlap in 100 low and 100 high proficiency French L2 speakers under low versus high working memory load conditions induced with a letter series recall task presented between primes and targets. The high load condition would prevent explicit recall of primes during target production. Both groups primed more under low than high load. The effect of load was similar across groups, but exploratory analyses with proficiency as a continuous variable suggested that, with increasing proficiency, participants primed less under high load. We discuss how these findings support the idea that learners exploit explicit memory more during priming in early versus later stages of acquisition. Overall, this study showed that explicit memory influences syntactic processing across the L2 learning trajectory.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Language Learning
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3304
Subjects:
?? educationlinguistics and languagelanguage and linguistics ??
ID Code:
219541
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
10 May 2024 13:15
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
08 Nov 2024 01:39