Doctoral Dissertation Research:Examining Inhibitory Control and Language Flexibility in Adult Second Language Learning: A Neurocognitive Investigation

博士论文研究：检查成人第二语言学习中的抑制控制和语言灵活性：神经认知调查

• 批准号: 1823898
• 负责人: Kara Short
• 金额: $ 1.08万
• 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: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2020-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1823898&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Examining; Inhibitory

Within the United States, millions of adults find it beneficial or even necessary to learn a second language for personal, business, and government related purposes. Yet, second language learning is a complex and challenging endeavor that results in a great deal of variability in learning outcomes. Some learners reach acceptable levels of proficiency for their purposes whereas other learners do not. Nonetheless, the factors that explain the varying levels of success in adult second language learning are still not fully understood. One way in which researchers work to explain who is expected to be successful when learning a second language is to identify the set of individual factors that are associated with successful adult second language learning. This dissertation project investigates two cognitive factors that have been shown to play a role in bilingualism and that have also recently been proposed to contribute to second language learning. The first factor, inhibitory control, is defined as an individual's ability to deliberately suppress automatic responses and has been shown to be key for bilingual language control. The second factor, language flexibility, refers to an individual's ability to tolerate changes to their first language and is evident in bilingual language processing. The dissertation will examine the role of these factors in second language learners as they become bilingual. To do so, we will first assess second language proficiency with multiple measures in adult learners of Spanish who are at early, intermediate, or late stages of learning the language. Second, behavioral measures will be taken of learners' inhibitory control ability, and brain-based, electrophysiological measures will assess language flexibility by examining the extent to which their developing Spanish affects their first language processing. Finally, these sets of data will be analyzed to examine to what extent inhibitory control abilities and language flexibility predict the level of proficiency that the learners achieve. The findings from the study are expected to have broad implications for theory and practice. The research will inform our theoretical understanding of the underlying cognitive and brain mechanisms that contribute to the complex task of learning a second language. This increased understanding about how languages are learned, in turn, will inform methodological approaches for teaching second languages. For example, instructional materials can be designed that leverage or support individual learner characteristics such as their inhibitory control ability. This project will also provide invaluable hands-on experience to graduate and undergraduate research assistants in areas including research design, data analyses of cognitive and brain-based, electrophysiological data, and data interpretation. Finally, given that the institution where this research will take place has a diverse student population, it will involve students from groups who are often underrepresented in higher education, many of whom are second language learners themselves.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.

在美国，数以百万计的成年人发现为了个人、商业和政府相关的目的学习第二语言是有益的，甚至是必要的。然而，第二语言学习是一项复杂而具有挑战性的努力，导致学习结果有很大的可变性。一些学习者达到了可接受的熟练程度，而另一些学习者则没有。然而，解释成人第二语言学习中不同程度成功的因素仍然没有被完全理解。研究人员解释谁在学习第二语言时有望成功的一种方法是确定与成功的成人第二语言学习相关的一系列个人因素。本论文研究了两种认知因素，这两种认知因素已被证明在双语中发挥作用，最近也被提出有助于第二语言学习。第一个因素，抑制控制，被定义为一个人有意抑制自动反应的能力，已被证明是双语语言控制的关键。第二个因素，语言灵活性，指的是一个人容忍母语变化的能力，在双语语言处理中很明显。本文将研究这些因素在第二语言学习者成为双语者中的作用。为此，我们将首先用多种方法评估西班牙语成人学习者的第二语言能力，这些学习者处于语言学习的早期、中期或后期阶段。其次，将对学习者的抑制控制能力采取行为测量，并基于大脑的电生理测量将通过检查他们发展西班牙语对他们的第一语言加工的影响程度来评估语言灵活性。最后，我们将对这些数据进行分析，以检验抑制控制能力和语言灵活性在多大程度上预测学习者达到的熟练程度。这项研究的结果有望对理论和实践产生广泛的影响。这项研究将使我们从理论上了解导致学习第二语言这一复杂任务的潜在认知和大脑机制。这种对语言学习方式的进一步了解，反过来将为第二语言教学的方法论方法提供信息。例如，教学材料的设计可以利用或支持个体学习者的特征，如他们的抑制控制能力。该项目还将为研究生和本科生的研究助理提供宝贵的实践经验，包括研究设计，认知和大脑数据分析，电生理数据和数据解释。最后，考虑到这项研究将进行的机构拥有多样化的学生群体，它将涉及来自高等教育中经常被低估的群体的学生，其中许多人本身就是第二语言学习者。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。