Language background differences in processing instruction
A study on the processing of the classifiers 'ba' and 'tai' in Mandarin Chinese
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/isla.23334Keywords:
Processing instruction, structured input, input processing, individual differences, bilingualism, Chinese classifiersAbstract
The present study investigates how language background differences (LBD) interact with the effects of processing instruction (PI). Specifically, this study examines how fast and accurately monolingual and bilingual subjects receiving either PI or a control, output-oriented treatment, process numeral classifiers ba and tai in Mandarin Chinese. Participants’ onset of correct response during training was measured by trials-to-criterion. Improvements over time were assessed using a sentence-level interpretation task at pre-test and post-test. Results indicate similar learning rates and accuracy on the post-test for all participants trained with PI. In the control condition, however, the bilinguals displayed better accuracy than their monolingual peers on the post-test, even though the onset of their correct responses during training did not differ significantly. Because the monolingual and bilingual-PI groups each outperformed the two control groups on both assessment measures, these results suggest that PI allowed participants to compensate for the effects of their LBD.
References
Allan, K. (1977) Classifiers. Language 53(2): 285–311. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1977.0043
Angelovska, T. and Benati, A. (2013) Processing instruction and the age factor: Can adults and school-age native speakers of German process English simple past tense correctly? In J. Lee and A. Benati (eds.) Individual Differences and Processing Instruction 131–52. Sheffield: Equinox.
Antoniou, M. (2019) The advantages of bilingualism debate. Annual Review of Linguistics, 5. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-011820
Bartolotti, J. and Marian, V. (2013) Bilingual memory: Structure, access, and processing. In J. Altarriba and L. Isurin (eds.) Memory, Language, and Bilingualism: Theoretical and Applied Approaches 7–47. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bartolotti, J. and Marian, V. (2017) Bilinguals’ existing languages benefit vocabulary learning in a third language. Language Learning 67(1): 110–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12200
Benati, A. (2004) The effects of Structured Input activities and explicit information on the acquisition of the Italian future tense. In B. VanPatten (ed.) Processing Instruction: Theory, Research and Commentary 207–25. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Benati, A. (2009) A classroom experimental study on the effects of processing instruction in the acquisition of Japanese. In Japanese Language Teaching: A Communicative Approach. London: Continuum.
Benati, A. (2016) Input manipulation, enhancement and processing: Theoretical views and empirical research. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 6(1): 65–88. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2016.6.1.4
Benati, A. (2022) The effects of Structured Input and traditional instruction on the acquisition of the English causative passive forms: An eye-tracking study measuring accuracy in responses and processing patterns. Language Teaching Research 26(6): 1231–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820928577
Benati, A., Lee, J. and McNulty, A. (2010) Exploring the effects of processing instruction on a discourse-level guided composition with the Spanish subjunctive after the adverb cuando. In A. Benati and Lee, J. (eds.) Processing Instruction and Discourse 97–147. London: Continuum.
Brooks, P. J. and Kempe, V. (2013) Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: The mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness. Memory and Cognition 41(2): 281–96. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-012-0262-9
Cenoz, J. (2013) The influence of bilingualism on third language acquisition: Focus on multilingualism. Language Teaching 46(1): 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000218
Comer, W. and De Benedette, L. (2011) Processing instruction and Russian: Further evidence is IN. Foreign Language Annals 44(4): 646–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2011.01155.x
Cox, J. (2013) Bilingualism, aging, and instructional conditions in non-primary language development. PhD thesis, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Cox, J. (2017) Explicit instruction, bilingualism, and the older learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 39(1): 29–58. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263115000364
Cox, J. and Sanz, C. (2015) Deconstructing PI for the ages: Explicit instruction vs. practice in young and older adult bilinguals. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 53(2): 225–48. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0011
Del Gobbo, F. (2014) Classifiers. In C. T. J. Huang, Y. A. Li and A. Simpson (eds.) The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics 26–48. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Farhat, A. and Benati, A. (2018) The effects of motivation on processing instruction in the acquisition of modern standard Arabic gender agreement. Instructed Second Language Acquisition 2(1): 61–82. https://doi.org/10.1558/isla.34879
Farley, A. P. (2000) Processing and meaning output-based instruction: the acquisition of Spanish subjunctive. PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Urbana, IL.
Fernández, C. (2008) Reexamining the role of explicit information in processing instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 30(3): 277–305. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263108080467
Glimois, L. (2019) The effects of input flood, Structured Input, explicit information, and language background on beginner learners’ acquisition of a target structure in Mandarin Chinese. PhD thesis, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Grey, S., Sanz, C., Morgan-Short, K. and Ullman, M. T. (2017) Bilingual and monolingual adults learning an additional language: ERPs reveal differences in syntactic processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21: 970–94. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728917000426
Henry, N. (2022) The offline and online effects of processing instruction. Applied Psycholinguistics 43(4): 945–71. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716422000200
Henry, N., VanPatten, B. and Culman, H. (2009) More on the effects of explicit information in instructed SLA: A partial replication and a response to Fernández (2008). Studies in Second Language Acquisition 31(4): 559–75. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263109990027
Jessner, U. (2008) Teaching third languages: Findings, trends and challenges. Language Teaching 41(1): 15–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444807004739
Lado, B., Bowden, H., Stafford, C. and Sanz, C. (2017) Two birds, one stone, or how learning a foreign language makes you a better language learner. Hispania 100(3): 361–78. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpn.2017.0064
Laval, C. and Lowe, H. (2020) The use of eye-tracking in experimental approaches in second language acquisition research: The primary effects of Processing Instruction in the acquisition of the French imperfect. Journal of French Language Studies 30(2): 189–210. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959269520000046
Lee, J. and McNulty, E. M. (2013) The effects of language background on the results of processing instruction on the Spanish subjunctive/indicative contrast after the adverb cuando. In J. Lee and A. Benati (eds.) Individual Differences and Processing Instruction 49–81. Sheffield: Equinox.
Lee, J. and VanPatten, B. (2003) Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. New York: McGraw Hill.
Leeser, M. (2021) Why does processing instruction work? The role of PI within a framework of language and second language development. In M. J. Leeser, G. D. Keeting and W. Wong (eds.) Research on Second Language Processing and Processing Instruction: Studies in Honor of Bill VanPatten 295–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Li, C. and Thompson, S. A. (1981) Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Mountaki, Y. (2016) The relative effects of processing instruction and traditional output instruction on the acquisition of the Arabic subjunctive. PhD thesis, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
Naami, A. and Sahragard, R. (2022) The effect of field independence on processing instruction on the acquisition of English passive by Iranian EFL learners. Instructed Second Language Acquisition 6(1): 109–39. https://doi.org/10.1558/isla.20078
Nation, R. and McLaughlin, B. (1986) Novices and experts: An information processing approach to the ‘good language learner’ problem. Applied Psycholinguistics 7(1): 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400007177
Nayak, N., Hansen, N., Krueger, N. and McLaughlin, B. (1990) Language-learning strategies in monolingual and multilingual adults. Language Learning 40(2): 221–44.
Stafford, C., Sanz, C. and Bowden, H. (2010) An experimental study of early L3 development: Age, bilingualism and classroom exposure. International Journal of Multilingualism 7: 162–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710903528122
VanPatten, B. (1996) Input Processing and Grammar Instruction in Second Language Acquisition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
VanPatten, B. (2004) Input processing in SLA. In B. VanPatten (ed.) Processing Instruction: Theory, Research and Commentary. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
VanPatten, B. (2015) Input processing in adult SLA. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams (eds.) Theories in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction (2nd edn.) 113–34. New York: Routledge.
VanPatten, B. and Cadierno, T. (1993) Explicit instruction and input processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 15(2): 225–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100011979
VanPatten, B., Collopy, E., Price, J., Borst, S. and Qualin, A. (2013) Explicit information, grammatical sensitivity, and the first-noun principle: A cross-linguistic study in processing instruction. Modern Language Journal 97(2): 506–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12007.x
VanPatten, B. and Oikkenon, S. (1996) Explanation versus Structured Input in processing instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18(4): 495–510. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100015394
Wong, W. (2004) Processing instruction in French: The roles of explicit information and Structured Input. In B. VanPatten (ed.) Processing Instruction: Theory, Research and Commentary 183–205. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wong, W. and Simard, D. (2015) Focusing on Form in Language Instruction. New York: Routledge.
