CISLL Publications

Author ORCID Identifier

Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg: 0000-0001-5557-4472

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The relationship between artificial and natural language learning

Abstract

Artificial language learning (ALL) experiments have become an important tool in exploring principles of language and language learning. A persistent question in all of this work, however, is whether ALL engages the linguistic system and whether ALL studies are ecologically valid assessments of natural language ability. In the present study, we considered these questions by examining the relationship between performance in an ALL task and second language learning ability. Participants enrolled in a Spanish language class were evaluated using a number of different measures of Spanish ability and classroom performance, which was compared to IQ and a number of different measures of ALL performance. The results show that success in ALL experiments, particularly more complex artificial languages, correlates positively with indices of L2 learning even after controlling for IQ. These findings provide a key link between studies involving ALL and our understanding of second language learning in the classroom.

First Page

822

Last Page

847

DOI

10.1111/cogs.12257

Publication Date

2016

Department

Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literature| Center for Latino and Latin American Studies| Department of World Languages and Cultures

Special Interest Group

Second-Language Learning and Bilingualism

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