LaBrozzi, R. 1 & Sagarra, N. 2
1 Department of Foreign Languages, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, USA
2 Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA
Much research has been conducted to explain the obstacles associated with adult second language acquisition (SLA). The Associative-Cognitive theory (Ellis, 2007) suggests that early learned cues from the L1 affect the learning of later learned cues in the L1 and L2. Immersion has been posited to help, but research has not shown it to have positive effects on grammar development (Lafford, 2006), whereas working memory does positively affect SLA (Harrington & Sawyer, 1992; Sagarra, 2007). This research examines the effects of the previous L2 learning experience and working memory on learning new L2 morphological cues by comparing classroom learners with and without an immersion experience. The 96 participants completed an eye-movement test and a working memory test. The participants read sentences in Spanish at their own pace and answered a comprehension question after each sentence. All experimental sentences contained past tense adverbs but the verbal morphology varied between present and past tense, with the location of the adverb or verb also varying. Results for total reading time (RT) at the adverb revealed that learners without immersion relied more on the adverb than the other groups. Contrariwise, total RT at the verb indicated that Spanish monolinguals and learners with immersion relied more on the verb morphology. Thus, an immersion experience can help English-Spanish learners of otherwise equal proficiency to alter their L2 cue preferences and to process the morphological cue, just as monolingual Spanish speakers do. Results from the working memory data suggest that working memory capacity affects L2 temporal processing, and that the study abroad learners are better at noticing the incongruent tense condition, and may also benefit more from the study abroad experience. These findings suggest that the more important factors for altering L2 cue preferences appear to be the L2 learning context and working memory capacity.