Title of Document: USING NEW MEASURES OF IMPLICIT L2 KNOWLEDGE TO STUDY THE INTERFACE OF EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE Yuichi Suzuki, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Directed By: Dr. Robert M. DeKeyser, Second Language Acquisition Second language acquisition (SLA) becomes extremely difficult for late second language (L2) learners, who are assumed to have passed the sensitive or critical period for...

Abstract In this study, neural representation of adult second language (L2) speakers’ implicit grammatical knowledge was investigated. Advanced L2 speakers Japanese living in Japan, as well L1 speakers, performed a word-monitoring task (proposed an test) the MRI scanner. Behavioral measures were obtained from aptitude tests for explicit (language analytic ability) and (statistical learning lear...

Abstract The Language Aptitude Outside the Classroom (LAOC) study investigates factors that contribute to successful English-learning among newly arrived parent-child immigrants. Two types of are considered: cognitive abilities (aptitude measured with LLAMA tests and working memory) contextual-affective (exposure anxiety). Participants pairs Spanish-speaking immigrants in US. Each pair consists...

Montreal high school students studying French as a second language completed a battery of tests including measures of linguistic aptitude. verbal intelligence, and various attitudinal and motivational characteristics. Analysis of the intercorrelations of these tests yielded two orthogonal factors equally related to ratings of achievement in French: a linguistic aptitude and a "motivational" fac...

Languaging—that is, using language to mediate thinking, orally or in writing—facilitates second (L2) learning. As languaging requires the deliberate, analytical action of L2 learners, learners with higher aptitude are likely benefit more from than those lower aptitude. Thus, this study investigated extent which mediates effects written (WL) on Pre-intermediate Japanese university students were ...