Individual differences in children's response to explicit instruction: effects of age and memory ability

IF 3.9 1区文学 Q1 LINGUISTICS

Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-09-18 DOI:10.1093/applin/amag082

Wensi Zhang,Padraic Monaghan,Patrick Rebuschat

{"title":"Individual differences in children's response to explicit instruction: effects of age and memory ability","authors":"Wensi Zhang,Padraic Monaghan,Patrick Rebuschat","doi":"10.1093/applin/amag082","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study investigated how declarative memory (DM), procedural memory (PM), and working memory (WM) capacities support additional language (L2) learning under explicit instruction from middle childhood to early adolescence, a period marked by substantial cognitive development yet underrepresented in L2 research. 50 learners aged eight to thirteen were trained on an artificial language composed of transitive sentences with animated scenes in a cross-situational learning paradigm. Vocabulary and grammar learning required tracking co-occurrences between features of sentences and scenes, and integrating an explicitly instructed grammar rule (i.e. sentence word order), presented prior to exposure. We found that, in this explicitly instructed learning context, DM predicted grammar learning, while PM related positively to grammar learning only for older children. Furthermore, phonological short-term memory predicted grammar rule learning, while complex WM predicted verb learning. The results suggest that learning in an explicitly instructed context may vary as a function of learners’ age and cognitive profiles.","PeriodicalId":48234,"journal":{"name":"Applied Linguistics","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amag082","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated how declarative memory (DM), procedural memory (PM), and working memory (WM) capacities support additional language (L2) learning under explicit instruction from middle childhood to early adolescence, a period marked by substantial cognitive development yet underrepresented in L2 research. 50 learners aged eight to thirteen were trained on an artificial language composed of transitive sentences with animated scenes in a cross-situational learning paradigm. Vocabulary and grammar learning required tracking co-occurrences between features of sentences and scenes, and integrating an explicitly instructed grammar rule (i.e. sentence word order), presented prior to exposure. We found that, in this explicitly instructed learning context, DM predicted grammar learning, while PM related positively to grammar learning only for older children. Furthermore, phonological short-term memory predicted grammar rule learning, while complex WM predicted verb learning. The results suggest that learning in an explicitly instructed context may vary as a function of learners’ age and cognitive profiles.

查看原文本刊更多论文

儿童对外显指示反应的个体差异：年龄和记忆能力的影响

摘要：本研究探讨了陈述性记忆（DM）、程序性记忆（PM）和工作记忆（WM）能力如何支持显性指导下的额外语言（L2）学习，这一时期标志着认知发展的实质性发展，但在L2研究中却未得到充分体现。50名年龄在8到13岁之间的学习者在跨情景学习范式中接受了一种由及物句和动画场景组成的人工语言的训练。词汇和语法学习需要跟踪句子和场景特征之间的共现现象，并整合在接触之前呈现的明确指示的语法规则（即句子词序）。我们发现，在这种明确指示的学习情境中，DM预测语法学习，而PM仅对年龄较大的儿童有正向影响。此外，语音短期记忆预测语法规则学习，而复杂WM预测动词学习。结果表明，在明确指示的背景下学习可能会随着学习者的年龄和认知特征而变化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Applied Linguistics LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Applied Linguistics publishes research into language with relevance to real-world problems. The journal is keen to help make connections between fields, theories, research methods, and scholarly discourses, and welcomes contributions which critically reflect on current practices in applied linguistic research. It promotes scholarly and scientific discussion of issues that unite or divide scholars in applied linguistics. It is less interested in the ad hoc solution of particular problems and more interested in the handling of problems in a principled way by reference to theoretical studies.