Kerz, E. 1 , Wiechmann, D. 2 & Silkens, T. 1
1 RWTH Aachen University
2 University of Amsterdam
A substantial body of evidence has emerged in support of a tight coupling between individual differences in statistical learning (SL) ability and variability in native and non-native language learning and processing. However, at the same time, it is clear that language outcomes are a function of many other ID factors across linguistic, cognitive and affective domains. The goal of the present study was to investigate the interplay between statistical learning and personality traits in predicting L2 sentence comprehension ability. In pursuit of this goal, 50 German intermediate-to-advanced L2 learners of English (34 females, M = 22.4 years) were administered separate artificial grammar learning tasks involving adjacent or nonadjacent dependencies along with a language comprehension task. They also completed the Big Five Inventory questionnaire that assessed five personality traits. The results of mixed-effects regression modeling indicated that the effects of adjacent and non-adjacent SL ability on L2 comprehension were mediated by personality traits. Specifically, we found that the two SL abilities had differential effects in extroverts and introverts, in individuals with higher and lower openness to experience, as well as in individuals with higher and or lower scores on the neuroticism scale.