The role of memory and instruction in the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: an aptitude-treatment interaction study

Date

2025-10-01

Authors

Monaghan, Padraic
Zhang, Wensi
Li, Jiayi
Jiang, Chaofan
Yang, Siqi
Rebuschat, Patrick

Director

Publisher

Elsevier
Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia
Artículo / Artikulua
Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa

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Abstract

Individual differences in cognitive abilities and explicit instruction can affect language learning. Understanding how individual differences and instruction interact, however, requires us to determine the points in the language learning process that are open to influence. One hundred and eleven adults were exposed to an artificial language comprising transitive sentences occurring with action scenes and were either instructed or not in the language structure. Learning proceeded by determining the cross-situational correspondences between words and scene features. We found that declarative memory ability related strongly and positively but procedural memory related weakly and negatively to overall immediate learning. Rule-search instruction also positively influenced short-term learning, but not of the structure that was explicitly highlighted, and this was most pronounced in those with high declarative memory. The results highlight which features of language learning are accessible to information about language structure, and how that is affected by the learners' cognitive abilities, with practical implications for personalised design of language learning programmes.

Description

Keywords

Individual differences, Declarative memory, Procedural memory, Implicit and explicit treatments, Aptitude-treatment interactions, Cross-situational learning

Department

Ciencias humanas y de la educación / Giza eta Hezkuntza Zientziak

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Doctorate program

item.page.cita

Ruiz, S., Monaghan, P., Zhang, W., Li, J., Jiang, C., Yang, S., Rebuschat, P. (2025). The role of memory and instruction in the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: an aptitude-treatment interaction study. Journal of Memory and Language, 144, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2025.104660.

item.page.rights

© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.

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