Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Classroom
Kirsten M. Hummel
Leif M. French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391 doi:10.3138/cmlr.66.3.371
372 Hummel and French
Second language (L2) teachers have long observed that learners vary
enormously in both their rate of learning and their ultimate achieve-
ment levels. A number of factors are thought to contribute to such indi-
vidual variation, including instructional context (e.g., Wesche, 1981),
the degree and type of motivation learners bring to the classroom
and its tasks (e.g., Clement, Dornyei, & Noels, 1994; Gardner,
Tremblay, & Masgoret, 1997; Noels, 2001; Oxford & Shearin, 1994),
and the age at which instruction begins (e.g., Johnson & Newport,
1989; Oyama, 1976). Working memory (WM), and in particular phono-
logical memory (PM), has increasingly been linked to success in
various aspects of L2 acquisition across research settings, including
the classroom.
Although recent L2 research with both children and adults suggests
that PM may play a direct role in the development of vocabulary (e.g.,
French, 2006; Service & Kohonen, 1995) and grammar skills (e.g.,
French & OBrien, 2008; Williams & Lovatt, 2005), as well as in oral
fluency (e.g., French, 2009; OBrien, Segalowitz, Collentine, & Freed,
2006; OBrien, Segalowitz, Freed, & Collentine, 2007), there has been
a notable lack of review of existing research on the relevance of PM
to L2 teaching. This brief review is an attempt to fill this gap by eval-
uating evidence for the relationship between PM and L2 learning
and by discussing possible implications for the L2 classroom.
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 373
FIGURE 1
Multi-component working memory model (sources: Baddeley, 1986, 2000;
Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
374 Hummel and French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 375
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
376 Hummel and French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 377
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
378 Hummel and French
adults, and oral gains in function words with more proficient learners
(OBrien et al., 2006, 2007). Given the mounting evidence from various
research settings and proficiency groups, PM appears to be an essential
memory component throughout much of L2 development.
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 379
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
380 Hummel and French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 381
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
382 Hummel and French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 383
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
384 Hummel and French
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
Phonological Memory 385
# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391
386 Hummel and French
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# 2010 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
66, 3 (March/mars), 371 391