Second language implicit learning research has shown that a variety of linguistic features can be acquired without awareness. However, this research overwhelmingly uses comprehension tests to measure implicit learning. It remains unclear whether newly acquired implicit knowledge can also be recruited for production. To address this question, we…

The last two decades have seen a significant amount of interest in bilingual language learning and processing. A number of computational models have also been developed to account for bilingualism, with varying degrees of success. In this article, we first briefly introduce the significance of computational approaches to bilingual language…

In an exploration of the effects of task-repetition practice on fluency development, English-as-a-foreign language learners performed three oral narrative tasks involving six-frame cartoons for 3 consecutive days. They engaged in task-repetition practice under either a blocked (Day 1: A-A-A; Day 2: B-B-B; Day 3: C-C-C) or an interleaved (Day 1:…

Despite the promise of research conducted at the intersection of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), natural language processing, and second language acquisition, few studies have explored the potential benefits of using intelligent CALL systems to deepen our understanding of the process and products of second language (L2) learning. The…

This study investigated the potential of comprehensive corrective feedback forms as editing and learning tools and examined their effect on learners' cognitive and attitudinal engagement. Low-intermediate second language writers (N = 139) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions (direct corrections of grammatical errors,…

This study employed synthetic and meta-analytic techniques to review the literature on the Cognition Hypothesis, which predicts that increasing task complexity influences the quality of second language production. Based on 8 inclusion criteria, 17 published studies were synthesized according to key features. A subset of these studies (k = 9) was…

Previous research has demonstrated substantially improved second language (L2) vocabulary learning when spoken word forms are varied using multiple talkers, speaking styles, or speaking rates. In contrast, the present study varied visual representations of referents for target vocabulary. English speakers learned Spanish words in formats of no…

In this article, we investigate the integration of concept-based pragmatics instruction, grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, in an intact second-semester French class (n = 13) over the course of an academic term. Our focus is on learners' appropriation of the concepts of self-presentation, social distance, and power with respect…

Input exposure is essential for nonprimary language learning, but the importance of explicit instruction and corrective feedback continues to be debated. If instruction is required, how might it be optimized in terms of its nature and timing? In this study, 65 Spanish-English bilinguals were introduced to Latin through an interactive computer…

The current study compared the effects of two second language (L2) instruction types--processing instruction (VanPatten, 2004) and traditional output-based instruction--on the development of the Spanish past subjunctive among U.S. Spanish heritage language speakers and traditional L2 learners. After exposure to instruction, both the heritage…

This study aimed to isolate the effects of the two input activities in Processing Instruction: referential activities, which force learners to focus on a form and its meaning, and affective activities, which contain exemplars of the target form and require learners to process sentence meaning. One hundred and twenty 12-year-old Taiwanese learners…

This study compares quantitative and qualitative results for task-based second language (L2) grammar instruction conducted as whole-class, teacher-led discourse (TLD) versus small-group, learner-led discourse (LLD). Participants included 78 English-speaking adults from six university classes of beginning L2 Spanish, with two assigned to each…

The research reported here tests the claim made in the Input Processing approach to second language (L2) acquisition that interpreting the meaning of language form is essential for learning. This claim has been put forward as an underlying part of the pedagogical package known as Processing Instruction (PI) (VanPatten, 1996, 2002a, 2004). Two…