Until now, research on bilingual auditory word recognition has been scarce, and although most studies agree that lexical access is language-nonselective, there is less consensus with respect to the influence of potentially constraining factors. The present study investigated the influence of three possible constraints. We tested whether language…

Although children are often exposed to technological devices early in life, little is known about how they evaluate these novel sources of information. In two experiments, children aged 3, 4, and 5 years old ("n" = 92) were presented with accurate and inaccurate computer informants, and they subsequently relied on information provided by…

This study examines the acquisition of the featural constraints on clitic and null distribution in Spanish among simultaneous and sequential Chinese-Spanish bilinguals from Peru. A truth value judgment task targeted the referential meaning of null objects in a negation context. Objects were elicited via two clitic elicitation tasks that targeted…

To examine the role of morphology in verbal working memory. Forty nine children, all native speakers of Arabic from the same region and of the same dialect, performed a "Listening Word Span Task", whereby they had to recall Arabic uninflected words (i.e., base words), inflected words with regular (possessive) morphology, or inflected words with…

Although some evidence indicates that even very young children engage in rudimentary forms of strategic behavior, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that uncertainty monitoring underlies such behaviors. Three-, four-, and five-year-old children ("N" = 88) completed a perceptual…

Background: Young children are often required to carry out writing tasks in an educational context. However, little is known about the patterns of writing skills that children with specific language impairment (CwSLI) have relative to their typically developing peers. Aims: To assess the written language skills of CwSLI and compare these with…

Depressive brooding--a passive ruminative focus on one's problems, negative mood and their consequences--is a thinking style that places individuals at a greater risk to develop future psychopathology. In this study, we investigated whether inter-individual differences in depressive brooding are related to neural differences underlying the…

Over the last two decades, a growing body of research has shown positive impacts for task planning in task-based instruction (e.g., Ellis, 2005; Foster & Skehan, 1996). However, what learners plan during pretask planning, and whether any specific planning strategies are more beneficial in encouraging learners to attend to linguistic forms and…

This dissertation examines the possible influence of language learners' second language (L2) on their perception of phonological contrasts in their third language (L3). Previous studies on Third Language Acquisition (TLA) suggest various factors as possible sources of cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of an L3. This dissertation…

In work-related, instrumental learning contexts the role of reflective activities is unclear. Kolb's (1985) experiential learning theory and Mezirow's transformative learning theory (2000) predict skill-adaptation as a possible outcome. This prediction was experimentally explored by manipulating reflective activities and assessing participants'…

This study utilized a paired priming paradigm to examine the influence of input features on case assignment in typically developing English-speaking children. The Input Ambiguity Hypothesis (Pelham, 2011) was experimentally tested to help explain why children produce subject pronoun case errors. Analyses of third singular "-s" marking on…

This research study was specifically concerned with the development, testing, and revision to an instructional theory for studying the mathematical concepts of equivalence and equation solving with multiple representations and multiple tools. Following a design research approach, a collaborative teaching experiment was conducted with a ninth-grade…

This article argues for a shift in how researchers discuss and examine students' uses of representations during their calculus problem solving. An extension of Zazkis, Dubinsky, and Dautermann's (1996) Visualization/Analysis-framework to include physical modes of reasoning is proposed. An example that details how transitions between visual,…

Sometimes, program evaluations report no difference in outcomes between persons given a program and those not given the program. Is this because the program does not work, or because it was poorly implemented? Achieving high quality program implementation is critical to achieving anticipated outcomes, and researchers have made considerable…

This article describes a transcription task cycle that was designed to facilitate the development of skills for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) speaking test at a language school in Japan. The cycle involved practice test, transcription, student correction, teacher correction, and retrial of the original test and…