Examining Native Language Variability and its Effects on Second Language Processing: An Event-Related Potentials Investigation of Referential Dependencies

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This project examines the extent to which there is a link between language abilities in a first and second language with the goal of providing a better understanding of the factors that predict successful reading comprehension across languages. Although language skills are critical for both economic security and national security, the U.S. is in a foreign language 'crisis,' with only 30% of high school students and 8% of college students taking foreign language courses (A National Security Crisis, 2012). Improving our ability to predict successful language learning will provide a better understanding of the skills that need to be reinforced in order to provide a stronger foundation for language learning, allowing the development of pedagogical practices that can potentially increase the number of successful learners. The project will address theoretical debates regarding whether or not the processing of a second language is fundamentally different from the processing of a native language by taking a unique approach in which both the first and second languages are examined within the same individuals. This project will provide educational opportunities within both the university and the larger community. At the university level, the project will provide training opportunities for undergraduate students from under-represented minority groups. At the community level, the researchers will give presentations at local high schools and at the public library in which the social, cultural, educational, economic, and cognitive advantages of being bilingual will be discussed and information about the resources available for language learning will be provided, emphasizing resources for both English native speakers and immigrant populations who may be interested in resources for maintaining their home languages.The project examines the processing of pronouns such as "she" in short stories as a test case for complex language processing. Linking a pronoun such as "she" with a noun that has come much earlier in the discourse has long been recognized as challenging for both native speakers and second language learners but the two bodies of research have proceeded independently. The current study examines the processing of pronouns in two groups of learners, English-speaking learners of Spanish and Spanish-speaking learners of English, testing all participants in both their first and second languages. The project uses event-related potentials (ERP), a brain imaging measure that allows the examination of the precise mechanisms that are used during language processing. All participants will also take an extensive battery of individual difference measures which assess both linguistic and cognitive skills. The goal is to develop a better understanding of the contexts and conditions under which native speakers and second language learners are successful in reading comprehension. In utilizing ERP, a more fine-grained characterization of the processes underlying comprehension in the first and second languages becomes possible, leading to a better understanding of whether the processing of a second language is truly qualitatively different from the processing of a native language.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.