Abstract

Second language acquisition is inevitable in a globalized world; however, it often comes with struggles. Theories in first language acquisition demonstrate that developing a strong foundation of phonological processing boost the acquisition of the language overall. Neurophysiological studies suggest that the MMN (mismatch negativity) is an indicator of phonological processing. This study hypothesized one’s phonological processing skills were correlated with second language acquisition in college. Participants who were enrolled in introductory Spanish courses at the College took the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing to measure their skills in both English and Spanish as well as the MMN using the oddball paradigm with two vowel sounds, Spanish /e/ sound and English /eɪ/. Their general Spanish language skills were measured via placement tests that the College offers to the first-year students. The results showed one’s phonological processing skills and the improvement of their Spanish after a semester of introductory Spanish course were not significantly correlated. The MMN elicited for Spanish-deviant English-standard condition was significantly correlated with the Spanish improvements, suggesting that the MMN indicates one’s unconscious attention allocation to the deviant phoneme in one language that predicts one’s improvement in the same language. This research, with previous literature that inspired it, supports the significant role of phonological development in second language acquisition.

Advisor

Herzmann, Grit

Department

Neuroscience

Disciplines

Cognitive Psychology | First and Second Language Acquisition | Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics

Publication Date

2022

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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