Exploring Second Language Acquisition of Grammar from a Psycholinguistic Perspective

Dear Colleagues, 

We are happy to invite contributions to a Special Issue of Languages on “Exploring Second Language Acquisition of Grammar from a Psycholinguistic Perspective”. The Special Issue encompasses the processing and production of various aspects of grammar. We welcome original empirical research and reviews on psycholinguistic studies on grammar, i.e., syntax, morphology, and morphophonology, in all languages (including artificial grammar), at all levels, and in all language modalities.  

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish cutting-edge research at the boarder of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition (SLA). The Special Issue provides a platform for SLA studies that investigate the “mechanisms and operations involved in producing and understanding language” (Libben 1997:438). Psycholinguistics is here understood as “the study of people’s action and mental processes as they use language” (Clark 1999:688) and includes both behavioral and neurophysiological measures. For this Special Issue, we confine SLA to the learning or acquisition of any language (L2) that takes place sometime later than the acquisition of the first language (L1; cf. Mitchell, Myles, & Marsden 2013). This definition excludes studies on simultaneous infant bilingualism but includes any study with a psycholinguistic approach to any subsequently acquired or learned language (i.e., L2, L3, LNs), here, broadly referred to as L2.  

With recent advances in digitalization, data sharing, and data availability and with easier access to sophisticated psychometrics and methods from cognitive neuroscience as well as access to larger learner corpora and advanced search options and tagging, there are new avenues for understanding the cognitive and psychological processes involved in acquiring a new language. With this Special Issue, we call attention to the mutual inspiration between the fields of SLA research and psycholinguistics, the integration of psycholinguistic models and SLA models, and the innovation and diversity in this rapidly advancing cross-disciplinary field.  

Scope: 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to: 

• Comparative studies on language processing or -production by different groups of L2 users, or by L2 users vs L1 users (cf. Gosselke Berthelsen et al. 2018; Kristensen & Sørensen 2023);
• Studies on the role of cognitive factors in SLA, such as memory, attention, aptitude, and executive function;
• Neurocognitive studies of the temporal or spatial dimensions of SLA;
• Studies testing models of the mental representation of L2 grammar;
• Studies on implicit learning and explicit learning, as well as comparisons of the two;
• Studies on cross-linguistic influences (Jarvis & Pavlenko 2008), including L1 attrition and L1–L2 convergence (Gullberg 2022; Steinhauer & Kasparian 2020);
• Studies on SLA processing that reference domain-general cognitive frameworks such as prediction models (Kaan, Kirkham & Wijnen 2016; Kuperberg & Jaeger 2016), attention models (Robinson 2003; Tomlin & Willa 1994), and noisy channel models (Futrell & Gibson 2017; Søby et al. 2023).

Methods: 

• Experimental studies on language processing (or language production) in any modality;
• Behavioral studies (reading or listening tasks, acceptability, priming, reaction time studies, eye-tracking, etc.);
• Neurolinguistic measures (EEG/ERP, neuroimaging, etc.);
• Corpus studies on language use that test psycholinguistic theories in an SLA context.

Types of Articles: Original research articles and reviews  

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the guest editors Line Burholt Kristensen ([email protected]) and Sabine Gosselke Berthelsen ([email protected]) and to the Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors to ensure proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Tentative Completion Schedule: 

• Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 December 2023    
• Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 15 January 2024    
• Full Manuscript Deadline: 1 August 2024

We look forward to your proposals and contributions to this exciting Special Issue.

References:   

Clark, Herbert H. 1999. Psycholinguistics. In Robert A. Wilson and Frank C. Keil (eds.) The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive Sciences, 688–689. MIT Press.  

Futrell, Richard, and Edward Gibson. 2017. L2 Processing as Noisy Channel Language Comprehension. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(4), 683–684.  

Gosselke Berthelsen, Sabine, Merle Horne, K. Jonas Brännström, Yury Shtyrov, and Mikael Roll. 2018. Neural processing of morphosyntactic tonal cues in second-language learners. Journal of Neurolinguistics 45, 60–78.  

Gullberg, Marianne. 2022. Bimodal convergence: How languages interact in multicompetent language users’ speech and gestures. In Aliyah Morgenstern and Susan Goldin-Meadow (eds.) Gesture in language: Development across the lifespan, 317–333. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 

Jarvis, Scott, and Aneta Pavlenko. 2008. Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition. Oxon: Routledge. 

Kaan, Edith, Joseph Kirkham, and Frank Wijnen. 2016. Prediction and Integration in Native and Second-Language Processing of Elliptical Structures. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 19(1), 1–18. 

Kristensen, Line Burholt, and Marie-Louise Lind Sørensen. 2023. På, i, for, or til: A comparative analysis of prepositions in the writing of L1 and L2 Danish users. Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 1–24.  

Kuperberg, Gina R., and T. Florian Jaeger. 2016. What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension?, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 31(1), 32–59.  

Libben, Gary. 1997. Psycholinguistics: the study of language processing. In William D. O’Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky, and Francis Katamba (eds.) Contemporary Linguistics, 438–462. London: Longman.  

Mitchell, Rosamond, Florence Myles, and Emma Marsden. 2013. Second Language Learning Theories. Oxon: Routledge. 

Robinson, Peter. 2003. Attention and memory during SLA. The handbook of second language acquisition, 631–678. 

Steinhauer, Karsten, and Kristina Kasparian. 2020. Brain plasticity in adulthood – ERP evidence for L1-attrition in lexicon and morphosyntax after predominant L2 use. Language Learning 70(S2), 171–193. 

Søby, Katrine Falcon, Evelyn Arko Milburn, Line Burholt Kristensen, Valentin Vulchanov, and Mila Vulchanova. 2023. In the Native Speaker’s Eye: Online Processing of Anomalous Learner Syntax. Applied Psycholinguistics 44(1), 1–28. 

Tomlin, Russell S., and Victor Villa. 1994. Attention in cognitive science and second language acquisition. Studies in second language acquisition 16(2), 183–203. 

Dr. Line Burholt Kristensen
Dr. Sabine Gosselke-Berthelsen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• second language acquisition
• psycholinguistics
• experimental linguistics
• grammar
• language processing
• language production