Barry McLaughlin

Conscious versus Unconscious Learning

This article examines the concept of consciousness in second language research. After defining theoretical assumptions and reviewing a number of controversies in the psycholinguistic and second language literature, I argue that although the terms conscious and unconscious have a place in our prescientific vocabulary, they have acquired too much surplus meaning and should be abandoned in favor of clearly defined empirical concepts. Lacking an adequate theory of mind that allows us to decide that particular mental states or operations are “conscious” or “unconscious,” one cannot falsify claims regarding consciousness in second language learning.

Second-language learning in children.

Examines a number of commonly held beliefs about 2nd-language learning. Studies of simultaneous and successive acquisition of a 2nd language in children are reviewed, and the evidence for these beliefs is critically evaluated. It remains to be proven that (a) there is a biologically based critical p

Novices and experts: An information processing approach to the “good language learner” problem

It is hypothesized that strategies and techniques employed by “expert” language learners differ from those of “novice” learners. In this study, the performance of multilingual subjects was contrasted to that of bilingual and monolingual subjects on two tasks that involved learning a miniature linguistic system. Under “implicit” learning conditions, multilingual subjects showed superior performance to that of the other two groups, but under “explicit” conditions, there were no differences. The results were interpreted in information processing terms as indicating that multilingual subjects have strategies that help them allocate processing resources more efficiently than our other subjects in formulating informal rules of limited scope under implicit conditions.

Parental speech to five-year-old children in a game-playing situation.

Children in a Game-playing Situation. CmLw DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 580-582. The speech of fathers and mothers was studied as they played a table game with 5-year-old sons or daughters. Analysis of the data revealed that fathers used more directly controlling language with their children than did mothers, whereas mothers preferred indirectly to directly controlling language. There were also consistent patterns suggesting that the interaction in like-sex (father-son, mother-daughter) dyads was different from that in cross-sex (father-daughter, mother-son) dyads. Parents used more complex language with cross-sex children, whereas they seemed to initiate play sooner and finished sooner with like-sex children. These findings were seen to underscore the need to look at likeand cross-sex dynamics in studies of linguistic input to children.

Aptitude from an Information Processing Perspective.

For some years now I have been wrestling with the question of aptitude from within an information-processing perspective. In this article I will briefly outline the approach I take, examine how aptitude is conceptualized in this framework and discuss one possible component of L2 aptitude: working memory.

Bilingual Memory Revisited

Abstract In this paper we address the question of how the bilingual stores information. We begin with a brief review of the research on bilingual memory. Our aim here is not to be exhaustive but representative. Next we turn to some recent work to bear on the question of bilingual memory. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for our understanding of how the bilingual mind is organized.

Second-Language Acquisition

As H. Douglas Brown pointed out in his review (1980), the field of second language acquisition [SLA] has emerged as its own discipline in the 1980s. A somewhat eclectic discipline, research in SLA involves methodologies drawn from linguistics, sociolinguistics, education, and psychology. Theoretical models are equally diverse (McLaughlin 1987), but in general a distinction is possible between representational and processing approaches (Carroll in press). Representational approaches focus on the nature and organization of second-language knowledge and how this information is represented in the mind of the learner. Processing approaches focus on the integration of perceptual and cognitive Processes with the learners second-languages knowledge. This distinction is used here for purposes of exposition, although it is recognized that some approaches combine both representational and processing features, as any truly adequate model of second-language learning must.

On the Use of Miniature Artificial Languages in Second-Language Research.

In this article the hypothesis is advanced that the learning of a miniature artificial language (MAL) is second-language (L2) learning writ small. Recent research from MAL experiments is reviewed which, if the hypothesis is correct, throws light on inductive L2 learning, suggesting that in the “creative construction” process both “implicit” learning and analogic generalization are possible strategies. The argument is made that MAL experiments are heuristically valuable for L2 research and that more creative use of MAL methods can have pedagogical implications, since teaching, like MAL research, involves systematic manipulation of input.

Values in behavioral science

To date, the literature on values in the behavioral sciences has been chiefly concerned with semantic and theoretical issues, with short shrift given to empirical research. The relatively few attempts to measure values empirically have started from different preconceptions, which precludes the possib?ity of an accumulation of comparable data.1 A Car tesianism that deepens this spUt between theory and research has devel oped. For the most part, theory is sophisticated and highly refined; but its conceptual components lack operational foundations and their hypothe sized relationships are not empirically falsifiable. Conversely, much re search that is carried on seems haphazard and without theoretical direc tion.

The Three Phases (Faces?) of Second-Language Research

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the research with adult second-language learners, where it examines three phases in the development of the field of second-language research. The argument is that each of these phases represents important approaches to understanding second-language phenomena, and that each is needed if one is to have a balanced grasp of the field. The first phase is the concern with linguistic issues. Indeed, linguists have dominated the field, at least in the United States and Europe. Their attention has been directed for the most part at two phenomena—acquisitional sequences in second-language learning and the question of transfer. Another phase in the development of the field of second-language research—one of primary interest in this conference—concern with the social context of language acquisition. The most recent phase of second-language research derives from developments in cognitive psychology. From this perspective, second-language learning is viewed as the acquisition of a complex cognitive skill.