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Philip S. Dale; Richard L. Sparks – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2024
Despite the widespread use and effectiveness of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) composite score in predicting individual differences in L2 achievement and proficiency, there has been little examination of MLAT subtests, although they have potential for illuminating components of L2 aptitude and the mechanism of prediction. Here we use…
Descriptors: Language Tests, Native Language, Secondary School Students, Spanish
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Schepens, Job J.; van Hout, Roeland W. N. M.; van der Slik, Frans W. P. – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2023
We investigated age-related decline in adult learning of Dutch as an additional language (Ln) in speaking, writing, listening, and reading proficiency test scores for 56,024 adult immigrants with 50 L1s who came to the Netherlands for study or work. Performance for all four language skills turned out to decline monotonically after an age of…
Descriptors: Aging (Individuals), Cognitive Ability, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction
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Mor, Billy; Prior, Anat – Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2022
Reading efficiently in a second language (L2) is a crucial skill, but it is not universally achieved. Here we ask whether L2 reading efficiency is better captured as a language specific skill or whether it is mostly shared across L1 and L2, relying on general language abilities. To this end, we examined word frequency and predictability effects in…
Descriptors: Prediction, Native Language, Second Language Learning, Reading Comprehension
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Sparks, Richard L.; Luebbers, Julie; Castaneda, Martha; Patton, Jon – Modern Language Journal, 2018
A unique anxiety for foreign language (L2) learning has been hypothesized to explain students' problems with language learning. However, L2 anxiety instruments have been challenged on the grounds that they reflect students' language learning ability and/or perceptions of their language learning skills. In this study, 266 U.S. high school students…
Descriptors: High School Students, Spanish, Anxiety, Second Language Learning
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Sparks, Richard L.; Patton, Jon; Ganschow, Leonore – Learning and Individual Differences, 2012
This retrospective study examined L1 achievement, intelligence, L2 aptitude, and L2 proficiency profiles of 208 students completing two years of high school L2 courses. A cluster analysis was performed to determine whether distinct cognitive and achievement profiles of more and less successful L2 learners would emerge. The results of…
Descriptors: Multivariate Analysis, Profiles, Language Skills, Second Language Learning
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Sparks, Richard L.; Patton, Jon – Language Learning, 2013
The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) has been challenged on the grounds that it may also assess language learning skills. In this study, 128 students who had been administered measures of first language (L1) skills in elementary school were followed from 1st to 10th grade. Fifty-three students had completed second language (L2)…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Native Language, Elementary School Students, Language Aptitude
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Sparks, Richard L. – Language Learning, 2012
In this article, I describe studies conducted over 25 years with secondary and post-secondary L2 learners in the United States. The evidence from these studies shows that there are important connections between students' early L1 skills and their L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency and that individual differences in students' L1 skills in elementary…
Descriptors: Secondary School Students, College Students, Individual Differences, Language Research
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Sparks, Richard L.; Humbach, Nancy; Patton, Jon; Ganschow, Leonore – Modern Language Journal, 2011
A factor analysis of a test battery that included early first-language (L1) achievement, L1 cognitive ability, second-language (L2) aptitude, and L2 affective measures to predict oral and written L2 proficiency was conducted. The analysis yielded 4 factors that were labeled Language Analysis, composed of L1 and L2 language comprehension, grammar,…
Descriptors: Reading Difficulties, Phonology, Paired Associate Learning, Affective Measures