Grammar Learning Techniques for L2: effects of retrieval and spaced practice – GLITCH

Two learning techniques have been shown to be most efficient when it comes to remembering things: (1) retrieval practice, also known as the testing effect, i.e., consciously trying to retrieve an item from memory instead of simply rereading or restudying it, and (2) distributed or spaced practice, i.e., spacing out revision sessions instead of grouping them. For second language (L2) learning, these two techniques have proved beneficial for vocabulary learning, but little is known about their impact on grammar learning. This project proposes a comprehensive examination of their potential benefits on L2 grammar learning in relation with two long-term memory systems that are particularly important in language learning and processing, declarative and procedural memory. The research focuses on the acquisition of two difficult structures for French learners of English, inversion in wh-questions (main vs. embedded) and tense morphology with an auxiliary ('Did he play?' vs '*Did he played'). As current neurocognitive models of L2 acquisition (Declarative / Procedural Model) claim that, for adults, grammar learning happens first in declarative memory, possibly in the form of chunks (i.e., sequences of words stored as units), there are reasons to believe that improving the retention of examples could benefit learning, at least in an explicit context, which is expected to favour learning in declarative memory. This project uses a wide range of methodologies, with rigorous behavioural and electrophysiological experiments and corpus studies, to (1) understand the source of learners’ difficulties with the target structures, (2) examine the extent to which retrieval and spaced practice can help learning these structures in relation with procedural and declarative memory abilities, and (3) investigate the role of prediction-based learning in retrieval practice. This project has direct applications in the field of language learning and teaching, as well as theoretical implications regarding the role of declarative memory in adult L2 grammar learning.