Modelling Changes in the Cognitive Processing of Grammar in Implicit and Explicit Learning Conditions: Insights From an Eye‐Tracking Study
A note from the journal editor (Pavel Trofimovich): This article was originally submitted on April 11, 2017 and received positive reviews, which eventually led to the final accept decision, before Judit Kormos joined the editorial team of Language Learning in November 2017.
This study was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom (grant number ES/P00962X/1). We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers and Professor Kara Morgan‐Short for their constructive comments and suggestions on previous versions of this manuscript. We also thank Dr. Simon Taylor at Lancaster University for his invaluable assistance with the statistical analysis.
The copyright line for this article was changed on 9 July 2018 after original online publication.
Abstract
This study used eye‐tracking to examine changes in how second language (L2) learners process target grammatical exemplars in written L2 input in implicit and explicit instructional conditions and how these changes relate to learning gains. In three separate sessions, 77 L2 learners of English read a story containing seven examples of a grammatical construction. The results of a growth curve analysis indicated significant main effects for the instructional condition and test sessions on total fixation duration and a significant interaction between these two variables. There was minimal attentional processing and no improvement in processing efficiency of the target construction in the unenhanced condition. Learners’ attentional processing in the textually enhanced conditions decreased and, by the end of the experiment, they engaged in establishing and fine tuning form–meaning links. In the two explicit instructional conditions, participants’ attention decreased over time and form–meaning representations of the target structure were strengthened.
Open Practices
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Number of times cited: 1
- Bernard I. Issa and Kara Morgan-Short, EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ATTENTIONAL MANIPULATIONS ON SECOND LANGUAGE GRAMMAR DEVELOPMENT, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10.1017/S027226311800013X, (1-29), (2018).
