ABSTRACT
Based on a research project funded by the Army Research Institute, Foreign Language Learning reports original empirical and theoretical research on foreign language acquisition and makes recommendations about applications to foreign language instruction. The ultimate goal of this project was to identify a set of psychological principles that can provide the foundation for--or at least, argumentation for--a foreign language training course. This book reviews the various studies of which the project is comprised. It begins with an overview chapter outlining the scope of the project and summarizing some of the experiments that were conducted in the laboratory. In each of the following chapters, the contributors report on previously unpublished research on selected specific psycholinguistic training principles; vocabulary and concept acquisition; language comprehension; reading processes; and bilingualism. The final chapter--prepared by a prominent expert on second language training--provides an overview and evaluation of the contribution of the research described in earlier chapters to the goal of improving instructional methods in foreign language learning.
Sandwiched between the introductory and final chapters are four major sections:
* Vocabulary and Concept Acquisition, which discusses the effect of first-language phonological configuration on lexical acquisition in a second language, contextual inference effects in foreign language vocabulary acquisition and retention, mediated processes in foreign language vocabulary acquisition and retention, and the status of the count-mass distinction in a mental grammar;
* Language Comprehension, which addresses voice communication between air traffic controllers and pilots who are nonnative speakers of English, cognitive strategies in discourse processing, and the effects of context and word order in Maasai sentence production and comprehension;
* Reading Processes, which discusses the enhancement of text comprehension through highlighting, the effect of alphabet and fluency on unitization processes in reading, and reading proficiency of bilinguals in their first and second languages; and
* Bilingualism, which addresses Stroop interference effects in bilinguals between similar and dissimilar languages, the individual differences in second language proficiency, and the hierarchical model of bilingual representation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|53 pages
Introductory overview
part II|104 pages
Vocabulary and concept acquisition
chapter Chapter 2|20 pages
Effect of First Language Phonological Configuration on Lexical Acquisition in a Second Language
chapter Chapter 3|14 pages
Contextual Interference Effects in Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention
part III|97 pages
Language comprehension
chapter Chapter 7|32 pages
Misunderstandings in Voice Communication: Effects of Fluency in a Second Language
chapter Chapter 9|17 pages
Argument Structure and Maasai Possessive Interpretation: Implications for Language Learning
chapter Chapter 10|25 pages
Learning and Losing Syntax: Practice Makes Perfect and Frequency Builds Fortitude
part IV|57 pages
Reading processes
chapter Chapter 13|24 pages
Transfer Effects of First Language Proficiency on Second Language Reading
part V|81 pages
Bilingualism
chapter Chapter 14|21 pages
Stroop Interference in Bilinguals: The Role of Similarity Between the Two Languages
chapter Chapter 15|26 pages
Individual Differences in Second Language Proficiency: Working Memory as Language Aptitude
chapter Chapter 16|31 pages
A Model of Bilingual Representation and Its Implications for Second Language Acquisition
part VI|15 pages
Commentary