Five-to-six-year-olds' abilities to detect and solve ambiguities in spoken language have been found to be a predictor of their later reading abilities in first-to-third grade. However, the origins of this relationship remain unclear. Success in ambiguity detection may be reflective of overall language attainment, which varies with socioeconomic…

Although the distinction between explicit and implicit (automatized) knowledge of second or foreign language (L2) is of crucial importance to second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research, it has thus far not been directly applied to L2 pronunciation. The paper attempts to fill this gap by making an initial attempt to illustrate the…

It has been largely argued that intrinsic motivation is the best and most effective in sustaining language learning. Deci and Flaste (1996) posit that motivation must come from within. While this might be possible and effective in contexts where learners have a personal interest in learning a language, it is not always the case for those learning…

Purpose: Response times (RTs) are commonly used in studying language acquisition. However, previous research utilizing RT in the context of language has largely overlooked the intra-individual variability (IIV) of RTs, which could hold significant information about the processes underlying language acquisition. Method: We explored the association…

Language development is an important facet of early life. Deaf children may have exposure to various languages and communication modalities, including spoken and visual. Previous research has documented the rate of growth of English skills among young deaf children, but no studies have investigated the rate of ASL acquisition. The current paper…

It is widely accepted that written corrective feedback (WCF) is an effective tool for helping learners develop their L2 knowledge. Yet, it remains inconclusive as to which type of WCF can best facilitate L2 learning. In recent years, many second language acquisition (SLA) researchers agree that "direct" and "focused" WCF may be…

Purpose: This meta-analysis study aimed to determine the optimal level of talker variability in training to maximize second-language speech learning. Method: We conducted a systematic search for studies comparing different levels of talker variability in nonnative speech training, published through July 2024. Two independent reviewers screened…

Studies of language evolution in the lab have used the iterated learning paradigm to show how linguistic structure emerges through cultural transmission--repeated cycles of learning and use across generations of speakers . However, agent-based simulations suggest that prior biases crucially impact the outcome of cultural transmission. Here, we…

Statistical learning (SL), the ability to detect and extract regularities from inputs, has been considered as an early-maturing and domain-general mechanism that is critical for typical language development. However, recent evidence in neurotypical adults and children have found that individuals can vary in their SL abilities across linguistic and…

In recent years, Third Language Acquisition (TLA) in Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI) research has been debated regarding background languages' impact on learning a target language. While Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research often emphasizes the primary influence of the first language (L1) on the target language, it does not discount the…

We evaluated the efficacy of Early Language Comprehension Individualized Instruction (ELCII), a supplemental computer-based early language comprehension intervention, in improving kindergarten students' inference making performance. In Study 1, students completed ELCII modules over nine weeks, whereas a business-as-usual control group engaged in…

As emotional factors gain increasing prominence in second language acquisition (SLA), few studies have offered a comprehensive bibliometric synthesis of this evolving research area. To address this gap, the present study analyzed 931 articles indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) from 2000 to 2024. A combination of bibliometric…

Over the last decade, iterated learning studies have provided compelling evidence for the claim that linguistic structure can emerge from non-structured input, through the process of transmission. However, it is unclear whether individuals differ in their tendency to add structure, an issue with implications for understanding who are the agents of…

Bilingual children are a more heterogenous group than their monolingual counterparts with respect to the sources of variation in their language learning environments, as well as the wide individual variation in their language abilities. Such heterogeneity in both individual difference factors and language abilities argues for the importance of an…

Although language samples are child-friendly and well-suited for obtaining global measures of language production, structured protocols have the potential to elicit many different exemplars of language structures in a shorter amount of time. We created a structured elicitation protocol, the Sentence Diversity Priming Task (SDPT), to efficiently…