Doctoral Dissertation Research: Child/Adult Differences in Implicit/Explicit Knowledge of a Second Language

博士论文研究：儿童/成人第二语言内隐/外显知识的差异

• 批准号: 1122629
• 负责人: Tania Ionin
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1122629&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Child; Adult

It is thought that children "pick up" languages naturally, whereas adults must study grammar in order to learn a second language (L2). Adult L2 learners typically develop extensive explicit knowledge about the L2 (knowledge that is conscious and can be verbalized), but may lack implicit knowledge (knowledge that cannot be verbalized, but can be accessed quickly and easily.) The reverse is typical of children. But children also experience a very different learning environment from adults. Are age differences in implicit/explicit language knowledge maturational, or environmental?This dissertation research explores how adults and children in different learning conditions develop implicit and explicit L2 knowledge, specifically asking (1) whether children favor implicit knowledge, (2) whether adults favor explicit knowledge, and (3) whether this still holds when children and adults are under the same controlled training conditions. Such research has not been done to date, since research on implicit/explicit knowledge only tests adults, and research on children has not included task comparisons. With support from the National Science Foundation, two studies addressing explicit and implicit knowledge in children and adults will be carried out. The first tests child and young adult L2 learners of Spanish who have had similar instructional experiences on their implicit and explicit knowledge of verb morphology. The second study trains adults and children to speak an artificial mini-language; half the subjects receive explicit rule instruction, and the other half do not. The goal of these studies is to examine whether age or instruction is the primary factor in determining reliance on explicit vs. implicit knowledge. This research contributes to the discussion of whether child and adult language learning are fundamentally similar or different, helping to develop theories of language learning across the lifespan. Results are expected to have implications for the development of effective pedagogy for different age groups.

一般认为，儿童是自然地“习得”语言的，而成年人必须学习语法才能学习第二语言。 成人L2学习者通常会发展出关于L2的广泛的外显知识（有意识的，可以用语言表达的知识），但可能缺乏内隐知识（不能用语言表达，但可以快速轻松地获取的知识）。 相反的是典型的儿童。 但孩子们也经历了与成年人截然不同的学习环境。 内隐/外显语言知识的年龄差异是成熟的还是环境的？本研究探讨了在不同的学习条件下，成人和儿童如何发展内隐和外显的第二语言知识，具体地问：（1）儿童是否喜欢内隐知识，（2）成人是否喜欢外显知识，（3）当儿童和成人处于相同的受控训练条件下时，这是否仍然成立。 迄今为止还没有进行过这样的研究，因为关于内隐/外显知识的研究只测试成年人，而关于儿童的研究不包括任务比较。 在国家科学基金会的支持下，将开展两项研究，探讨儿童和成人的显性和隐性知识。 第一个测试的儿童和年轻的成人L2学习者的西班牙语谁有类似的教学经验，他们的隐式和显式知识的动词形态。 第二项研究训练成人和儿童说一种人造的迷你语言;一半的受试者接受明确的规则指导，另一半则没有。这些研究的目的是检验年龄或教育是否是决定依赖外显知识还是内隐知识的主要因素。 这项研究有助于讨论儿童和成人的语言学习是基本相似还是不同，有助于发展整个生命周期的语言学习理论。 预计结果将对不同年龄组的有效教学法的发展产生影响。