Lijuan Liang

Processing morphologically complex words in second-language learners: the effect of proficiency.

The present study explored how the processing of morphologically complex words in second-language (L2) learners changes as their proficiency increases. ERPs were recorded from highly proficient and less proficient L2 learners, using the repetition priming paradigm. Three experimental conditions were investigated: morphological related/unrelated pairs, semantically related/unrelated pairs, and form related/unrelated pairs. The presence of priming in each condition was assessed by comparing responses to targets preceded by related primes with those preceded by unrelated primes. ERP results showed that highly proficient L2 learners demonstrated priming effect within 350-550 ms in the morphological condition, associating with an N400 reduction, while less proficient L2 learners showed no morphological priming effect within the N400 range. Besides, form priming effect was observed in both highly proficient and less proficient L2 learners within 400-450 ms and 450-500 ms, and semantic inhibiting effect was observed in both groups within 450-500 ms, suggesting that less proficient L2 learners were equally sensitive to the word form and meaning. The ERP results indicate that highly proficient L2 learners manifest rule-based decomposition, while less proficient L2 learners rely more on lexical storage in processing morphologically complex words. Less proficient L2 learners have not developed the decomposing mechanism, despite their sensitivity to word form and meaning. The way in which morphologically complex words are processed in L2 learners does change as their proficiency increases, validating the predictions of the declarative/procedural model.

The effect of domain-general inhibition-related training on language switching: An ERP study

Previous studies have demonstrated that inhibitory control ability could be improved by training, and the Inhibitory Control (IC) Model implies that enhanced domain-general inhibition may elicit certain changes in language switch costs. In the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of domain-general inhibition training on performance in a language switching task, including which phase of domain-general inhibitory control benefits from training during an overt picture naming task in L1 and L2, using the event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Results showed that the language switch costs of bilinguals with high inhibitory control (high-IC) were symmetrical in both pretest and posttest, and those of bilinguals with low inhibitory control (low-IC) were asymmetrical in the pretest, but symmetrical in the posttest. Moreover, the high-IC group showed a larger LPC (late positive component) for L2 switch trials than for L1 trials in both pretest and posttest. In contrast, the low-IC group only exhibited a similar pattern of LPC in the posttest, but not in the pretest. These results indicate that inhibition training could increase the efficiency of language switching, and inhibitory control may play a key role during the lexical selection response phase. Overall, the present study is the first one to provide electrophysiological evidence for individual differences in the domain-general inhibition impact on language switching performance in low-proficient bilinguals.

The priming effect of translation equivalents across languages for concrete and abstract words

The present study used a masked priming paradigm and two language tasks (lexical decision, semantic categorical judgment) to investigate whether concrete and abstract words share the same degree of conceptual representation across languages for bilinguals. The results showed that the priming effect of translation equivalents did not differ for concrete and abstract words in the lexical decision task, in both prime-target directions (in Experiment 1). The same results were also found in the semantic categorical judgment task in either prime-target direction (in Experiment 2). Our results do not provide support for the representation difference hypothesis of concrete and abstract words of Distributed Representation Model (De Groot, 1992a, 1992b; Van Hell & De Groot, 1998), which assumes that concrete words share more semantic components in the conceptual representations across languages, compared with abstract words. Rather, our findings suggest that both concrete and abstract words have the same degree of overlap in conceptual representations across a bilinguals two languages.

Modulatory role of inhibition during language switching: Evidence from evoked and induced oscillatory activity

Aims: The present study adopted the electroencephalogram (EEG) technique to investigate whether inhibition advantage could modulate different language switches, regardless of the time spent on second language learning. Design: The inhibitory control (IC) ability of 80 low-proficient Chinese (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals was assessed by the Simon task. Half of these bilinguals were then subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to perform switching between L1 and L2 (L1–L2 switching), and the other half were subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to conduct switching between L1 and Lnew (L1–Lnew switching). All participants were required to name pictures (picture naming task) in their L1 and L2/Lnew in language switching task. Data and analysis: Both response latencies and EEG data were obtained, and then evoked and induced oscillations were calculated using time–frequency analysis. Findings: The results of language switching showed similar naming latencies for L1 and L2/Lnew switch trials in the high-IC group, whereas the low-IC group showed larger naming latencies for L1 switch trials than L2/Lnew switch trials. In contrast, the high-IC group exhibited larger theta evoked and induced power for L2/Lnew switch trials than L1 switch trials at the lexical selection level, whereas the low-IC group did not. These findings indicate that inhibition advantage helps the high-IC group to suppress effectively the non-target word via recruiting bottom-up (evoked oscillation) and top-down (induced oscillation) processes. Innovation: The present study was a first attempt to provide evidence that theta oscillation indicates cross-language interference at the lexical selection level. Significance: Inhibition plays a modulatory role in language switching, which is independent of the time spent on second language learning, and such role involves bottom-up (i.e., evoked oscillation) and top-down (i.e., induced oscillation) processes which were mainly evident at the lexical selection level.

Parallel morpho-orthographic and morpho-semantic activation in processing second language morphologically complex words: Evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals

Objectives/research questions: The present study focused on the performance of Chinese learners of English to investigate the activation of morpho-semantic information in the early processing of second language (L2) morphologically complex words when participants’ first language (L1) and L2 are typologically different. Methodology: We used forward masked priming paradigm to compare the priming effect in three prime conditions, semantically transparent, semantically opaque and semantically related. In Experiment 1, the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was 40 milliseconds (ms), while, In Experiment 2, the SOA was extended to 80 ms. Data and analysis: Reaction time and comprehension accuracy data were analysed using the linear mixed-effects model. Findings/conclusions: In Experiment 1, we only found a priming effect in the semantically transparent condition. In Experiment 2, we found a reliable priming effect in the semantically opaque condition, but not in the semantically related condition. These results suggest even Chinese learners of English whose native language is typologically different from English can employ the rule-based decomposing mechanism. The decomposition is based on the interplay of morpho-orthographic and morpho-semantic information, adding new evidence to the assumption of parallel orthography-semantics activation. Originality: We manipulated SOAs to investigate the role of the morpho-semantic factor in the early processing of morphologically complex L2 words when participants’ L1 and L2 are typologically different.

The Pre-attentive L2 Orthographic Perception Mechanism Utilized by Bilinguals with Different Proficiency Levels

Language proficiency is predicted to modulate orthographic-semantic association in second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition, in accordance with the assumptions of the Developmental Bilingual Interactive-Activation model (BIA-d) (Grainger et al., 2010). The current study explored this modulation during pre-attentive L2 orthographic perception. ERPs were recorded from Chinese–English bilinguals with different L2 proficiency during their pre-attentive response to deviant and standard stimuli arranged in the oddball paradigm. Two stimulus types were investigated separately: L2 orthography and L1 orthography. In the L2 orthography condition, a MMN-N400 complex (i.e., deviancy effect) was found in the high L2 proficiency bilinguals, but only a marginally significant reduced negativity in an early time window was found in the low L2 proficiency bilinguals. In the L1 orthography condition, the high and low L2 proficiency bilinguals showed similar deviancy effect in the form of MMN-P3a-LPC complex. The current findings suggest that proficiency modulates pre-attentive L2 orthographic perception, such that the high L2 proficiency bilinguals activate the associated semantic representation instantly upon orthographic decoding, while the orthographic-semantic connection is not activated for the low L2 proficiency bilinguals. This is probably due to their difference in the strength of orthographic-semantic association. These findings contribute to the understanding of orthographic processing by bilinguals at the pre-attentive level and provide supporting evidence for the BIA-d model.

Native language influence on the distributive effect in producing second language subject–verb agreement

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the distributive effect when producing subject–verb agreement in English as a second language (L2) when the participants first language either does or does not require subject–verb agreement. Both Chinese–English and Uygur–English bilinguals were included in Experiment 1. Chinese has no required subject–verb agreement, whereas Uygur does. Results showed that the distributive effect was observed in Uygur–English bilinguals but not in Chinese–English bilinguals, indicating that this particular first language (L1) syntactic feature is one significant factor affecting the distributive effect in the production of subject–verb agreement in L2. Experiment 2 further investigated the matter by choosing Chinese–English participants with higher L2 proficiency. Still, no distributive effect was observed, suggesting that the absence of distributive effect in Chinese–English bilinguals in Experiment 1 was not due to low proficiency in the target language. Experiment 3 changed the way the stimuli were presented, highlighting the singular or distributive nature of the subject noun phrases, and the distributive effect was observed in Chinese–English bilinguals. Altogether, the results show that the L1 syntactic feature of subject–verb agreement is one significant factor affecting the distributive effect in the production of subject–verb agreement in L2. More specifically, distributive effects rarely occur in L2 when L1 has no requirement on subject–verb agreement, whereas distributive effects are more likely to occur in L2 when the L1 also has required subject–verb agreement.

Inhibitory control predicts quasi language switching performance: evidence from face-to-face dialogue

ABSTRACT The present study adopted a face-to-face dialogue approach to investigate the modulatory role of inhibition during quasi language switching. Pairs of Chinese–English unbalanced bilinguals with measured inhibitory control (IC) abilities took turns to talk about assigned conversational topics in three conditions: L2 only (L2-only order), switching from L1 to L2 (L1-L2 order), and switching from L2 to L1 (L2-L1 order). The dependent measure was the number of morpho-syntactic content- and function-word errors made in L2 in each condition. In addition to the conversations, participants completed a Simon switch task to measure IC abilities. Results showed that better IC ability predicted high accuracy in morpho-syntactic content and function words in the L1-L2 order relative to L2-only order. Further analysis revealed that better IC ability predicted fewer morpho-syntactic content-word errors in quasi within-person switching. Hence, IC benefits quasi language switching within dialogue contexts by suppressing non-target morpho-syntax.

The effect of inhibitory control and its training on L1 and a new learned language switching

Aims: This study aimed to investigate how individuals’ inhibitory control (IC) ability affects language switching in the initial period of language learning. Design: Using a pretest/posttest design and event-related potential (ERP) methodology, we investigated the effect of IC on Chinese–English bilinguals during their language switching between Chinese (L1) and Korean (a language new to the participants, Lnew). All participants were required to name pictures (picture-naming task) in their L1 and Lnew in the pretest and posttest. Low-IC participants received an IC task training between the pretest and the posttest, while the high-IC group did not. Data and analysis: Analyses of both response latencies and ERP data were conducted by repeated-measures ANOVA. Findings: Results showed that the high-IC group exhibited symmetrical switch costs in both the pretest and the posttest. Besides, a more obvious late positive component (LPC) was observed when the high-IC participants switched from L1 to Lnew than the other way around, indicating their ability to inhibit cross-language interference. In contrast, the low-IC group exhibited asymmetrical switch costs, and no amplitude difference when switching between Lnew and L1 in the pretest. However, in the posttest, the switch costs pattern and the LPC results of the low-IC group became similar to those of the high-IC group. Innovation: The present study was a first attempt to provide electrophysiological evidence that IC ability plays an important role during L1–Lnew switching. Significance: These findings support the hypothesis that individuals’ IC ability plays a role of suppressing the non-target lexical access during language switching in the initial period of second language learning. The results also indicate that the relevant training in IC ability could contribute to the improvement of the language-switching efficiency in the initial period of language learning.

The effect of executive control ability on the comprehension of second language metaphor

Aims: The present study examined the effect of language-related executive control ability on second language (L2) metaphor comprehension in L2 learners. Design: All participants were Chinese–English bilinguals. The Stroop task was used to measure language-related executive control ability. Three types of sentences were used as stimulus materials, including familiar metaphoric sentences, unfamiliar metaphoric sentences and literal sentences. Participants were asked to determine whether the sentence presented was metaphoric or not. Data and analysis: Both response latencies and accuracy scores were obtained. Linear mixed effect model was used for statistical analysis. Findings: The effect of executive control ability on L2 metaphor comprehension is modulated by the familiarity of the metaphor. Specifically, for familiar metaphor sentences, the response time of participants with higher executive control ability was significantly faster than those with lower executive control ability. However, for the unfamiliar metaphor sentences and literal sentences, the effect of executive control ability was not significant. Originality: This study directly explored the impact of language-related executive control on metaphor comprehension in L2 learners. Significance/Implications: Our results found that the Predication Model is also applicable to L2 learners.