Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T01:16:54.346Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ATTENTION TO IRREGULAR VERBS BY BEGINNING LEARNERS OF GERMAN

An Eye-Movement Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2013

Aline Godfroid  and
Maren S. Uggen
Aline Godfroid*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Maren S. Uggen
Affiliation:
Kalamazoo College
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Aline Godfroid, Department of Linguistics and Languages, Michigan State University, B253 Wells Hall, 619 Red Cedar Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824; e-mail: godfroid@msu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study focuses on beginning second language learners’ attention to irregular verb morphology, an area of grammar that many adults find difficult to acquire (e.g., DeKeyser, 2005; Larsen-Freeman, 2010). We measured beginning learners’ eye movements during sentence processing to investigate whether or not they actually attend to irregular verb features and, if so, whether the amount of attention that they pay to these features predicts their acquisition. On the assumption that attention facilitates learning (e.g., Gass, 1997; Robinson, 2003; Schmidt, 2001), we expected more attention (i.e., longer fixations or more frequent comparisons between verb forms) to lead to more learning of the irregular verbs. Forty beginning learners of German read 12 German sentence pairs with stem-changing verbs and 12 German sentence pairs with regular verbs while an Eyelink 1000 recorded their eye movements. The stem-changing verbs consisted of six a → ä changing verbs and six e → i(e) changing verbs. Each verb appeared in a baseline sentence in the first-person singular, which has no stem change, and a critical sentence in the second- or third-person singular, which have a stem change for the irregular but not the regular verbs, on the same screen. Productive pre- and posttests measured the effects of exposure on learning. Results indicate that learners looked longer overall at stem-changing verbs than regular verbs, revealing a late effect of verb irregularity on reading times. Longer total times had a modest, favorable effect on the subsequent production of the stem vowel. Finally, the production of only the a → ä verbs—not the e → i(e) verbs—benefited from direct visual comparisons during reading, possibly because of the umlaut in the former. We interpret the results with reference to recent theory and research on attention, noticing, and language learning and provide a more nuanced and empirically based understanding of the noticing construct.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 35 , Issue 2: Eye-Movement Recordings in Second Language Research , June 2013 , pp. 291 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We acknowledge and are especially thankful for the contributions by Jens Schmidtke, who ran the mixed-model regression analyses in R. We also thank our colleague Paula Winke for providing valuable input at different stages of this research project and Frank Boers for commenting on an earlier version of the manuscript. Finally, the manuscript benefited greatly from the constructive, detailed comments of three anonymous reviewers.

References

REFERENCES

Awh, E., Vogel, E., & Oh, S. (2006). Interactions between attention and working memory. Neuroscience, 139, 201–208.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (1988). A cognitive theory of consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (1997). In the theatre of consciousness: Global workspace theory, a rigorous scientific study of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4, 292–309.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (2002). The conscious access hypothesis: Origins and recent evidence. Trends in Cognitive Science, 6, 47–52.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J., & Gage, N. M. (2010). Cognition, brain, and consciousness: Introduction to cognitive neuroscience. London: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H. (2008). Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 390–412.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory: Looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4, 829–839.Google Scholar
Bates, D. M., Maechler, M., & Bolker, B. (2011). lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes [Statistical software package]. Retrieved from http://cran.r-project.org/package=lme4 Google Scholar
Bertram, R. (2011). Eye movements and morphological processing in reading. The Mental Lexicon, 6, 83–109.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & Nazir, T. (2005). Visual constraints in written word recognition: Evidence from the optimal viewing position effect. Journal of Research in Reading, 28, 216–228.Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (1995). Regular morphology and the lexicon. Language and Cognitive Processes, 10, 425–455.Google Scholar
Bybee, J., & Newman, J. (1995). Are stem changes as natural as affixes? Linguistics, 33, 633–654.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H. (1999). Lexical entities and rules of language: A multidisciplinary study of German inflection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 199–1060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Rothweiler, M. (1992). Inflectional rules in children’s grammars: Evidence from the development of participles in German. In Booij, G. & van Marle, J. (Eds.), Yearbook of morphology 1992 (pp. 1–34). Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Clifton, C., Staub, A., & Rayner, K. (2007). Eye movements in reading words and sentences. In Van Gompel, R. P. G., Fischer, M. H., Murray, W. S., & Hill, R. L. (Eds.), Eye-movements: A window on mind and brain (pp. 241–372). Oxford: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Cook, V. (1997). L2 users and English spelling. Journal of Multilingual and Multiculural Development, 18, 474–488.Google Scholar
Cook, V. (Ed.). (2003). Effects of the second language on the first. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cowan, N. (1995). Attention and memory: An integrated framework. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Craik, F. (2002). Levels of processing: Past, present... and future? Memory, 10, 305–318.Google Scholar
Craik, F., & Lockhart, R. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671–684.Google Scholar
Craik, F., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 268–294.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2005). What makes learning second-language grammar difficult? A review of issues. Language Learning, 55, 1–25.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2007). Practicing in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Digital dictionary of the German language] [Language corpus]. (2003). Retrieved from www.dwds.de Google Scholar
Doughty, C., & Williams, J. (Eds.). (1998). Focus on form in classroom and second language acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dunn-Rankin, P. (1978). The visual characteristics of words. Scientific American, 238, 122–130.Google Scholar
Dussias, P. (2010). Uses of eyetracking data in second language sentence processing research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 149–166.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2005). At the interface: Dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 305–352.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2006a). Language acquisition as rational contingency learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 1–24.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2006b). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 164–194.Google Scholar
Ellis, N., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). Language emergence: Implications for applied linguistics. Introduction to the special issue. Applied Linguistics, 37, 558–589.Google Scholar
Ellis, N., & Sagarra, N. (2010). Learned attention effects in L2 temporal reference: The first hour and the next eight semesters. Language Learning, 60, 85–108.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M., & Keane, M. (2010). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (6th ed.). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Fitzmaurice, G. M., Laird, N. M., & Ware, J. H. (2011). Applied longitudinal analysis (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Fotos, S. (1993). Consciousness raising and noticing through Focus on Form: Grammar task performance versus formal instruction. Applied Linguistics, 14, 385–407.Google Scholar
Frenck-Mestre, C. (2005). Eye-movement recording as a tool for studying syntactic processing in a second language: A review of methodologies and experimental findings. Second Language Research, 21, 175–198.Google Scholar
Gass, S. (1997). Input, interaction and the second language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., Boers, F., & Housen, A. (in press). An eye for words: Gauging the role of attention in incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition by means of eye tracking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., Housen, A., & Boers, F. (2010). A procedure for testing the Noticing Hypothesis in the context of vocabulary acquisition. In Pütz, M. & Sicola, L. (Eds.), Inside the learner’s mind: Cognitive processing and second language acquisition (pp. 169–197). Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Goldschneider, J., & DeKeyser, R. (2001). Explaining the “natural order of L2 morpheme acquisition” in English: A meta-analysis of multiple determinants. Language Learning, 51, 1–50.Google Scholar
Hama, M., & Leow, R. (2010). Learning without awareness revisited: Extending Williams (2005). Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 465–491.Google Scholar
Han, Z., Park, E. S., & Combs, C. (2008). Textual enhancement of input: Issues and possibilities. Applied Linguistics, 29, 597–618.Google Scholar
Haznedar, B. (2001). The acquisition of the IP system in child L2 English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 1–39.Google Scholar
Hopp, H. (2010). Ultimate attainment in L2 inflection: Performance similarities between non-native and native speakers. Lingua, 120, 901–931.Google Scholar
Hosmer, D., & Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied logistic regression. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Izumi, S. (2003). Comprehension and production processes in second language learning: In search of the psycholinguistic rationale of the output hypothesis. Applied Linguistics, 24, 168–196.Google Scholar
Jaeger, T. (2008). Categorical data analysis: Away from ANOVAs (transformation or not) and towards logit mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 434–446.Google Scholar
Jessner, U. (2008). A DST model of multilingualism and the role of metalinguistic awareness. Modern Language Journal, 92, 270–283.Google Scholar
Just, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). A theory of reading: From eye fixations to comprehension. Psychological Review, 87, 329–354.Google Scholar
Knudsen, E. (2007). Fundamental components of attention. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 30, 57–78.Google Scholar
Koda, K., & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.). (2008). Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kutner, M. H., Nachtsheim, C. J., Neter, J., & Li, W. (2005). Applied linear statistical models (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (1998a). Case and tense in the “fossilized” steady state. Second Language Research, 14, 1–26.Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (1998b). Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent L2 end-state grammar. Second Language Research, 14, 359–375.Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2007). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition: A case study. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2010). Not so fast: A discussion of L2 morpheme processing and aquisition. Language Learning, 60, 221–230.Google Scholar
Lee, S., & Huang, H. (2008). Visual input enhancement and grammar learning: A meta-analytic review. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30, 307–331.Google Scholar
Leow, R. (1997). Attention, awareness and foreign language behavior. Language Learning, 47, 467–505.Google Scholar
Leow, R. (2000). A study of the role of awareness in foreign language behavior: Aware versus unaware learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 557–584.Google Scholar
Leung, J. H. C., & Williams, J. N. (2011). The implicit learning of mappings between forms and contextually derived meanings. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, J. H. C., & Williams, J. N. (2012). Constraints on implicit learning of grammatical form-meaning connections. Language Learning, 62, 634–662.Google Scholar
Li, S. (2010). The effectiveness of corrective feedback in SLA: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60, 309–365.Google Scholar
Liversedge, S., & Findlay, J. (2000). Saccadic eye movements and cognition. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4, 6–14.Google Scholar
Logan, G. (2005). The time it takes to switch attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12, 647–653.Google Scholar
Lyster, R., & Saito, K. (2010). Oral feedback in classroom SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 265–302.Google Scholar
McConkie, C., Kerr, P., Reddix, M., & Zola, D. (1988). Eye-movement control during reading: The location of initial eye-fixations on words. Vision Research, 28, 1107–1118.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, B. (1987). Theories of second language learning. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, B., & Heredia, R. (1996). Information-processing approaches to research on second language acquisition and use. In Ritchie, W. C. & Bhatia, T. K. (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 213–228). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D. C., Shen, X., Green, M. J., & Hodgson, T. L. (2008). Accounting for regressive eye movements in models of sentence processing: A reappraisal of the Selective Reanalysis hypothesis. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 266–293.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100.Google Scholar
Neubauer, K., & Clahsen, H. (2009). Decomposition of inflected words in a second language: An experimental study of German participles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31, 403–435.Google Scholar
Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50, 417–528.Google Scholar
Nübling, D., Dammel, A., Duke, J., & Szczepaniak, R. (2006). Historische Sprachwissenschaft des Deutschen: Eine Einfuehrung in die Prinzipien des Sprachwandels [Historical grammar of German: An introduction to the principles of language change]. Tübingen, Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
O’Regan, J. (1981). The convenient viewing position hypothesis. In Fisher, D., Monty, R., & Senders, J (Eds.), Eye-movements: Cognition and visual perception (pp. 289–298). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (1991). Rules of language. Science, 253, 530–535.Google Scholar
Pliatsikas, C., & Marinis, T. (2012). Processing of regular and irregular past tense morphology in highly proficient L2 learners of English: A self-paced reading study. Applied Psycholinguistics. Advance online publication. doi:10.1017/S0142716412000082 Google Scholar
Pollatsek, A., & Hyönä, J. (2006). Processing of morphemically complex words in context: What can be learned from eye movements. In Andrews, S. (Ed.), From inkmarks to ideas: Current issues in lexical processing (pp. 275–298). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Portmann-Tselikas, P. (2003). Grammar instruction as schooling of attention. On the role of grammatical knowledge in controlled language acquisition. Babylonia, 11, 9–18.Google Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000). Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16, 103–133.Google Scholar
Rayner, K. (2009). Eye-movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 1457–1506.Google Scholar
Reichle, E., Pollatsek, A., & Rayner, K. (2006). E-Z Reader: A cognitive-control, serial-attention model of eye-movement behavior during reading. Cognitive Systems Research, 7, 4–22.Google Scholar
Reichle, E., Warren, T., & McConnel, K. (2009). Using E-Z Reader to model the effects of higher level language processing on eye-movements during reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 1–21.Google Scholar
Roberts, L., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (this issue). Using eye-tracking to investigate topics in L2 acquisition and L2 processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (1995). Attention, memory, and the “Noticing” Hypothesis. Language Learning, 45, 283–331.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2003). Attention and memory during SLA. In Doughty, C. & Long, M. (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 633–678). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Russell, J., & Spada, N. (2006). The effectiveness of corrective feedback for the acquisition of L2 grammar: A meta-analysis of the research. In Norris, J. M. & Ortega, L. (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 133–164). Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. (2012). Multilingualism and metalinguistic awareness. In Chapelle, C. A. (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 3933–3942). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1995). Consciousness and foreign language learning: A tutorial on the role of attention and awareness in learning. In Schmidt, R. (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 1–63). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–32). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Segalowitz, N. (2010). The cognitive bases of second language fluency. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Segalowitz, N., & Hulstijn, J. (2005). Automaticity in second language learning. In Kroll, J. F. & de Groot, A. M. B. (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 371–388). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Silva, R., & Clahsen, H. (2008). Morphologically complex words in L1 and L2 processing: Evidence from masked priming experiments in English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 1–16.Google Scholar
Styles, E. A. (2006). The psychology of attention. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Treiman, R. (1993). Beginning to spell. New York: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Uggen, M. S. (2012). Reinvestigating the noticing function of output. Language Learning, 62, 506–540.Google Scholar
Ullman, M. (2001a). The declarative/procedural model of lexicon and grammar. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 30, 37–69.Google Scholar
Ullman, M. (2001b). The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language: The declarative/procedural model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 105–122.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Leeser, M. J. (2012). Missing verbal inflections as a representational issue: Evidence from on-line methodology. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2, 109–140.Google Scholar
Vitu, F., O’Regan, J., & Mittau, M. (1990). Optimal landing position in reading isolated words and continuous text. Perception & Psychophysics, 47, 583–600.Google Scholar
White, L. (2003). Fossilization in steady state L2 grammars: Persistent problems with inflectional morphology. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6, 129–141.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2004). Implicit learning of form-meaning connections. In VanPatten, B., Williams, J., Rott, S., & Overstreet, M. (Eds.), Form meaning-connections in second language acquisition (pp. 203–218). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2005). Learning without awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 269–304.Google Scholar
Wright, R., & Ward, L. (2008). Orienting of attention. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar