Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Morphosyntactic Development in a Second Language: An eye tracking study of the role of attention

博士论文研究改进补助金：第二语言的形态句法发展：注意力作用的眼动追踪研究

• 批准号: 1348964
• 负责人: Kara Short
• 金额: $ 0.7万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-03-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1348964&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Improvement; Grant

Understanding the factors that influence language acquisition--not only in the case of a learner's first (or native) language, but also in the case of second language acquisition--is an important goal of research on human language and communication. Learning a second language is arguably one of the most complex learning tasks for the adult mind and results in great variability in attainment of the second language, particularly for grammar. One cognitive factor that may account for this variability is attention. It has been widely assumed, under both theoretical and applied perspectives on second language learning, that attention to grammatical forms leads to acquisition of those forms. However, there is scant direct empirical evidence to support this claim in the field. In contrast, research in the field of cognitive science has produced ample evidence that suggests that attention is crucial for various types of cognitive operations, including learning. Thus, our understanding of attention in second language learning may be further elucidated by adopting theoretical perspectives, such as the distinction between external attention (cued by properties of the object itself) and internal attention (cued by task manipulations related to the object), and by the use of experimental methods from cognitive science, such as eye tracking, to examine this distinction. Under the direction of Dr. Kara Short, Bernard Issa's dissertation project implements such an innovative approach to address the following questions: (i) Does increased attention to particular second language grammatical forms lead to increased learning of those forms? (ii) Are there differential effects of external and internal attention on second language learning? To answer these questions, the eye-movements of novice learners of Spanish will be recorded as an index of attention while learning a new grammatical form under either external or internal manipulations of attention. The results from this interdisciplinary project are expected to provide novel, direct evidence for the role of attention in second language learning, lead to a greater understanding of attention in learning more generally, and have direct implications for pedagogy. Finally, this project will further opportunities for involvement, training, and interdisciplinary collaborations in research for a graduate student and for undergraduate researcher assistants, who are likely to come from underrepresented groups in cognitive science.

了解影响语言获取的因素 - 不仅在学习者的第一种（或本地语言）的情况下，而且在第二语言获取的情况下 - 是人类语言和交流研究的重要目标。 可以说，学习第二语言是成人思想最复杂的学习任务之一，并且导致第二语言的实现差异很大，尤其是对于语法而言。可能解释这种变异性的一个认知因素是注意。在第二语言学习的理论和应用观点下，人们对语法形式的关注会导致对这些形式的收购。但是，有很少的直接经验证据可以支持该领域的主张。相比之下，认知科学领域的研究产生了充分的证据，表明关注对于包括学习在内的各种认知操作至关重要。因此，我们可以通过采用理论观点来进一步阐明第二语言学习中的注意力，例如外部注意力（由对象本身的属性引起的）和内部注意力（由与对象相关的任务操作引起的表现），以及通过使用认知科学的实验方法（例如眼神跟踪）来检查这种疾病的情况。在Kara Short博士的指导下，伯纳德·伊萨（Bernard Issa）的论文项目实施了一种创新的方法来解决以下问题：（i）对特定的第二语言语法形式的关注是否会导致对这些形式的学习增加？ （ii）外部和内部注意力对第二语言学习是否存在差异影响？为了回答这些问题，西班牙新手学习者的眼动，将被记录为注意的指标，同时在外部或内部操纵下学习一种新的语法形式。该跨学科项目的结果有望提供新颖的，直接的证据，证明注意力在第二语言学习中的作用，从而使人们更加普遍地了解注意力，并对教学法产生直接影响。最后，该项目将为研究生和本科研究人员助理的参与，培训和跨学科合作提供进一步的机会，他们可能来自认知科学领域的代表性不足的群体。