While cluster analysis is becoming a popular method of identifying groups of learners that share similar characteristics, learners are typically grouped based on a small set of closely-related ID variables. To better understand L2 learning, we need to take a more integrative approach to profiling learners, considering abilities and attributes from different domains. In this study, we took an integrative, person-centered approach to identify language learner profiles among 544 learners of L2 Dutch in the Netherlands. We conducted a cluster analysis to identify similar groups of learners, considering cognitive abilities, pro-social behaviors, motivation, self-beliefs, level of multilingualism, and prior Dutch experience. Five distinct learner profiles emerged: (1) higher cognitive abilities - lower self-belief, (2) social learners - higher self-belief, (3) lower cognitive abilities - highly motivated, (4) highly multilingual - less social, and (5) lower motivation. While two profiles stood out for having particularly strong or weak attributes, other profiles were more mixed. In contrast to studies profiling learners of English in foreign language contexts, we did not find linear associations between prior Dutch experience and socio-affective constructs, highlighting the need for more research on learner profiles in LOTE settings. We also examined the relationship between different profiles and L2 learning gains over time, but found only small differences in L2 learning gains between profiles.

Reading skills and motivation in Dutch adolescents are rapidly declining, but reading interventions typically focus solely on the school language, neglecting multilingual students' heritage languages. This study examines the impact of a multilingual book club intervention, where 12- to 13-year-old students read and discussed books in their heritage language during Dutch language classes. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed how students perceived the book clubs and reading in their heritage language, and whether the (multilingual) book clubs led to increased intrinsic reading motivation and more positive reading attitudes. While quantitative results show no improvements in reading motivation or attitudes, qualitative findings highlight the value of social interaction and acknowledging students’ multilingual literacy. The study suggests that integrating multilingual literacy in education may foster student engagement, inclusivity and awareness of linguistic diversity.

Being literate likely has consequences for learning a second language, but surprisingly little research has been devoted to how emergent literacy affects second-language acquisition processes. Using a word learning experiment, we aimed to tease apart two possible ways through which literacy could impact second-language acquisition: through literacy-induced restructuring and through using written input in addition to spoken input. Totally, 166 (L1 Arabic and L2 Dutch) participants of varying literacy levels (emergent readers and more experienced readers) had to acquire eight words as names of people and pet animals, of which some only varied in one phoneme. Half of the participants received only auditory input to learn these names, and the other half also received written input. Bayesian mixed-effects models indicate that experienced readers are better able to acquire words and a phonological contrast than emergent readers, pointing toward a benefit from literacy-induced restructured linguistic representations. We also obtained anecdotal evidence that, although experienced readers seemingly benefit more from written input than emergent readers, the latter group could still use written input to a small extent. Possibly, written input might be beneficial, even though it cannot be properly decoded yet-at the very least it does not harm providing such input.

Children learn linguistic structures from the input they receive. Their learning may depend on several factors such as children’s sensitivity to structure in the input, prior language experience, and the consistency of linguistic structures in the input. In this study, we investigated how inconsistent input (i.e., substitution errors) in an artificial language affects 7 to 11-year-old Dutch-speaking children’s learning of words and rules. Using a cross-situational statistical learning task (CSL task), we assessed children’s learning of label–referent pairs (word learning) and their generalization of two morphophonological rules. Eighty-nine children were randomly allocated to three input conditions: a fully consistent input condition (n = 31), a 12.5% inconsistent input condition (n = 32), and a 25% inconsistent input condition (n = 26). In the inconsistent input conditions, children were exposed to substitution errors, respectively, 12.5% and 25% of the time. We found evidence that substitution errors in children’s language input hindered their cross-situational statistical language learning. While we have evidence that children learned the words in our artificial language, we have no evidence that children—regardless of input condition—detected the morphophonological rules. This study eventually may inform us on how differences in the quality of children’s language environments (arising from, e.g., speaker variability and language proficiency) affect their language learning.

In second language (L2) research, aptitude is typically viewed as a multicomponential, cognitive construct. Yet we know that L2 learning is influenced by multiple learner individual differences (IDs) besides cognitive abilities and that these IDs interact. In this article, we consider the affordances and implications of working toward a broader theory of language aptitude. Inspired by the theory of aptitude complexes, we examine the joint functioning of cognitive, affective, conative, and contextual processes in L2 learning. We conducted a large, exploratory study of aptitude with 544 learners of L2 Dutch. We used exploratory graph analysis to estimate a partial correlation network of 25 variables, combined with a community detection algorithm to identify communities of closely related variables. Results showed five communities of aptitude variables: cognitive abilities, proficiency and use, motivation and effort, self-beliefs and emotion, and pro-social behaviors. Learners with higher levels of multilingualism and less external pressure to learn Dutch made more L2 gains. Results also showed that L2 use and attitudes toward the Dutch community had an effect on L2 gains, via proficiency level and length of residence. Our findings fit with the theoretical framework and highlight the importance of working toward a multivariate, integrative theory of language aptitude.

This survey study focused on the strategies that LESLLA teachers in the Netherlands model and train in their classes. A questionnaire was developed aiming at tapping into four different strategy types: metacognitive, social, affective and cognitive strategies. Eighty two LESLLA teachers participated in the study. The study revealed remarkable differences between teachers: 17% of the respondents could be characterized as strongly strategy focused, whereas 41% of the participants was categorized as strategy focused and 32% as moderately strategy focused. 10% of the teachers reported to rarely focus on any strategy at all. The results showed that the teachers in our sample focused more frequently on metacognitive and social strategies and less on affective and cognitive strategies. Strategy focus could not be related to teacher characteristics, such as their training or their years of teaching experience, and also not to the proficiency level of their learners.

IntroductionResearch indicates that statistical learning plays a role in word learning by enabling the learner to track the co-occurrences between words and their visual referents, a process that is named cross-situational word learning. Word learning is problematic for children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and a deficit in statistical learning has been suggested to contribute to the language difficulties in these children. Therefore, we investigate whether children with DLD have more difficulty than TD children with learning novel word–referent pairs based on cross-situational statistics in an implicit task, and whether this ability is related to their lexical-semantic skills. Moreover, we look at the role of variability of the learning environment.MethodsIn our implicit cross-situational word learning task, each trial in the exposure phase was in itself ambiguous: two pictures of unknown objects were shown at the same time and two novel words were played consecutively, without indicating which word referred to which object. However, as every word occurred with its correct referent consistently, the children could learn the word–referent pairs across trials. The children were not explicitly instructed to learn the names of new objects. As an on-line measure of learning, eye-movements were recorded during the exposure phase. After exposure, word–referent knowledge was also tested using multiple choice questions. Several measures of lexical-semantic knowledge were administered to the children with DLD, as well as tasks measuring non-verbal intelligence and phonological processing. Contextual variability (the number of different distractors with which a particular word–referent pair occurs across trials) was manipulated between subjects by constructing two types of exposure conditions: low contextual diversity vs. high contextual diversity.ResultsBoth groups of children performed significantly above chance level on the test phase, but the TD children significantly outperformed the children with DLD. We found no significant effect of contextual diversity. The eye-tracking data revealed some evidence of on-line learning, but no differences between groups. Finally, the regression analyses did not reveal any significant predictors of off-line or on-line cross-situational word learning ability.DiscussionOur results indicate that although children with DLD are able to learn word-referent pairs in an implicit task, they have more difficulty than TD children. Possibly they need more input to achieve the same level.

Un hablante óptimamente informativo es aquel cuya expresión aumenta la probabilidad de que el oyente entienda el significado que pretende transmitir (Bohn et al., 2022; Grice, 1975; Frank, 2014). Por ejemplo, al decir “the yellow banana”, el hablante es óptimamente informativo si, además, hay una banana de otro color. El oyente, en tanto, suele realizar una inferencia contrastiva ("not the green banana") que le permite identificar el referente de manera más efectiva (Sedivy, 2003). En esta investigación nos preguntamos 1) si se puede aprender palabras nuevas a través de la inferencia contrastiva; 2) si un nivel no óptimo de informatividad (cuando los hablantes sobre-informan) afecta el aprendizaje; y 3) si los aprendices pueden distinguir entre hablantes óptimos y no óptimos.

Despite the often-reported finding that multilingual children may temporarily possess less advanced lexical or grammatical skills in at least one of their languages than monolingual peers, recent studies have found that exposure to multiple languages benefits children’s pragmatic development. To assess the generalizability of these findings, we conducted a meta-analysis of 29 studies that investigated various pragmatic abilities in both multilingual and monolingual children. In addition, we classified the investigated pragmatic abilities into three broad categories: (i) sensitivity to non-verbal information, (ii) understanding non-literal language, and (iii) informativeness in referencing. We found no effect of multilingualism on pragmatic abilities overall and also not in any of the categories separately. However, based on visual inspection of the effect sizes, we cannot rule out that multilingual children sometimes rely more on non-verbal cues during communication compared to their monolingual peers. We recommend future studies to formulate and test more specific hypotheses and to move away from the focus on a multilingual advantage.

AbstractNetwork analysis is a method used to explore the structural relationships between people or organizations, and more recently between psychological constructs. Network analysis is a novel technique that can be used to model psychological constructs that influence language learning as complex systems, with longitudinal data, or cross-sectional data. The majority of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) to date has been time-intensive, with a focus on analyzing intraindividual variation with dense longitudinal data collection. The question of how to model systems from a structural perspective using relation-intensive methods is an underexplored dimension of CDST research in applied linguistics. To expand our research agenda, we highlight the potential that psychological networks have for studying individual differences in language learning. We provide two empirical examples of network models using cross-sectional datasets that are publicly available online. We believe that this methodology can complement time-intensive approaches and that it has the potential to contribute to the development of new dimensions of CDST research in applied linguistics.

The past tense inflection has been a popular phenomenon to study the representational status of morphologically complex words. While several experiments in the processing of past tense verbs across languages have shown these verbs are stored via their constituent morphemes, experiments in the processing of the Dutch past tense indicate that these words are lexically stored in their surface form and therefore not decomposed. However, the experiments in Dutch past tense processing have not made use of experimental paradigms that can tap the earliest stages of word processing, where some theories predict decomposition would take place. We used the mismatch negativity response to study the representational status of monomorphemic and morphologically complex Dutch words. We were able to obtain different responses for monomorphemic and morphologically complex words, suggesting these are processed by different mechanisms. We cannot, however, discard the possibility that some past tense forms in Dutch do have surface form representations.

Second language proficiency may be related to first language acquisition (Ganschow & Sparks, 1991 ), but relatively little is known about the relation between first and second language grammatical proficiency in primary school children who are in their first stages of foreign language learning. This study aims to determine whether differences in Dutch and English vocabulary and Dutch grammar skills predict differences in English grammatical proficiency in Dutch speaking children who are in grade 4 in primary school. The selected participants are monolingual Dutch pupils ( N = 152), aged 9;0–10;0. To measure the children’s vocabulary the PPVT was used in Dutch (Schlichting, 2005 ) and in English (Dunn & Dunn, 2007 ). In addition, two grammar tasks in English and one in Dutch of the CELF (Semel et al., 2003 ) were used. The results show that English vocabulary is a strong predictor of English grammar skills, and that the Dutch vocabulary skills are weaker predictors of English grammar skills. Moreover, Dutch grammar skills predict English grammar skills for one of the grammar tasks. These results are discussed vis-à-vis hypotheses about cross-domain transfer and cross-linguistic transfer (Blom et al., 2012 ; Cummins, 1979 ; Ganschow & Sparks, 1991 ; Paradis, 2011 ; Sparks, 1995 ).

It has been proposed that a deficit in statistical learning contributes to problematic language acquisition in children with developmental language disorder (DLD), but at the same time the nature and extent of this relationship is not clear. This paper focuses on the role of statistical learning in lexical-semantic development by investigating visual distributional learning of novel object categories in children with and without DLD and its relation to vocabulary knowledge. Distributional learning is a form of statistical learning and entails the learning of categories based on the frequency distribution of variants in the environment. Fifty children (25 DLD, 25 TD) were tested on a visual distributional learning task. Results indicate that children can learn novel object categories on the basis of distributional information. We did not find evidence for a deficit in visual distributional learning in children with DLD. To investigate whether visual distributional learning ability is related to vocabulary knowledge, the children with DLD were tested on different measures of vocabulary. Phonological processing ability and non-verbal intel-ligence were taken into account as control variables. Multiple linear regression analyses did not reveal evidence for a relationship between distributional learning and vocabulary in DLD.

Many studies demonstrate that detecting statistical regularities in the linguistic input plays a key role in language acquisition. In the present study, we investigated whether such learning is also involved in acquiring a morpho-syntactic structure that carries meaning. We exposed children to a miniature language in which children had to learn a grammatical marker that expressed number, and which could only be acquired on the basis of the distributional properties in the input. Results of a study with 50 kindergartners (M = 5;5) show that young children are able to infer this meaning statistically.

Word learning is guided by the statistical co-occurrence between spoken words and potential referents, through which learners gradually map labels to objects across situations. Given that word learning does not occur in a vacuum, rather in a communicative context, it is relevant to evaluate the role that speakers play. Because we do not evaluate the information provided by every person equally, it is reasonable to think that someone who makes lexical errors is not a reliable speaker from whom to learn new words. The current study focuses on speaker reliability in adult cross-situational word learning (CSWL). In two experiments we investigated the extent to which adults attend to the reliability of the speaker and how this affects word learning in a CSWL task. We varied the consistency with which a speaker mapped novel words to familiar objects. We hypothesized (1) that the speakers’ reliability would be judged differently depending on their past object-labeling accuracy, and (2) that new words would be more difficult to learn when presented by an unreliable speaker. Experiment 1 shows that the unreliable speaker was assessed as less reliable, compared to the reliable speaker, but this effect disappeared in Experiment 2, when participants were taught new words by two speakers, a reliable and an unreliable one. Furthermore, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that being exposed to an unreliable speaker impairs CSWL in adults. We discuss the relevance of these findings and the importance of further research on the role of speaker reliability in CSWL.

Research consistently shows that adults engaged in tutored acquisition benefit from explicit instruction in several linguistic domains. For preschool children, it is often assumed that such explicit instruction does not make a difference. In the present study, we investigated whether explicit instruction affected young learners in acquiring a morpho-syntactic element. A total of 103 Dutch-speaking kindergartners (M = 5;7) received training in a miniature language to learn a meaningful agreement marker. Results from a picture matching task, during which eye movements were recorded, provided no evidence that explicit instruction led to higher accuracy rates, but suggest that it did lead to earlier predictive eye movements. These data seem incompatible with the idea that explicit instruction does not make a difference when kindergartners learn a grammatical element, and tentatively suggest that explicit instruction has a different effect on explicit knowledge than on implicit knowledge in this age group.

Categorization of sensory stimuli is a vital process in understanding the world. In this paper we show that distributional learning plays a role in learning novel object categories in school-aged children. An 11-step continuum was constructed based on two novel animate objects by morphing one object into the other in 11 equal steps. Forty-nine children (7-9 years old) were subjected to one of two familiarization conditions during which they saw tokens from the continuum. The conditions differed in the position of the distributional peaks along the continuum. After familiarization it was tested how the children categorized the stimuli. Results show that, in line with our expectations, familiarization condition influenced categorization during the test phase, indicating that the frequency distribution of tokens in the input had induced novel object category formation. These results suggest that distributional learning could play an important role in categorizing sensory stimuli throughout life.