Listening for Imagery by Native Speakers and L2 Learners

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5900895
AutoresShu-Ling Wu, Shuling Wu (0000-0001-6830-0075, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, autor de correspondencia)
Año2016
Volumen1
Número2
Páginas10
Fecha de publicación2016-09-16
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLanguages (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
EditorialMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages1020010
OpenAlexW2522494004
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas37

Slobin's thinking-for-speaking (TFS) hypothesis suggests that speakers are habitually attuned to aspects of an event that are readily codable in the language while they are formulating speech. This TFS process varies considerably cross-linguistically and can be observed in all forms of production and reception including listening for understanding or mental imagery. This study explored whether second language learners (L2) engage in mental simulation of deictic paths while processing motion language online. Forty Chinese native speakers (NSs) and eighty English-speaking learners of L2 Chinese participated in an online judgment task. They listened to motion sentences containing deictic paths while simultaneously watching a motion display of a toward- or away-direction. Since simultaneous presentation of the sentence and the display of the same directionality require the same neural structures to process competing inputs, interference effects are expected and the reaction time to respond should take longer. Results of repeated measures ANOVA show interference effects for the NSs, but not for the L2 learners of both heritage and foreign language backgrounds, suggesting that while the NSs were sensitive to the deictic cues and automatically performed mental simulations of the deictic paths, the L2 learners' listening for imagery did not pattern with the NSs. The results added to our understanding of L2 learners' development of TFS in the new modality of listening for imagery

Active listening · Cognitive psychology · First language · Linguistics · Categorization, perception, and language · Communication · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Psychology