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Masterarbeit / Master's Thesis MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis „Language Aptitude in Primary School Children and its Effects on other Cognitive Domains“ verfasst von / submitted by Stefanie Rüdegger angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien, 2017 / Vienna, 2017 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 066 812 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / English Language and Linguistics degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Prof.in Mag.a Dr.in Susanne Maria Reiterer 2 Acknowledgements Above all, I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof.in Mag.a Dr.in Susanne Maria Reiterer, an expert in the field of neuro- and psycholinguistics, who, by taking an honest interest in my initial idea, made it possible for me to realise my research project. I am more than tremendously indebted to Mag. Markus Christiner who supported me throughout the whole research, and without his constant valuable advice and feedback this project could have never succeeded. I feel ever-thankful for his enduring mentorship and kindness. I finally like to express my sincere and warmest thanks to the primary school children who participated in my study. Without their willingness, curiosity and motivation to participate so thoroughly, the project would have been doomed to fail. It was a great pleasure to working with them, and I am truly grateful for their lasting eagerness and joy. I am also thankful for the excellent analysis work my raters did. Without them, the project would not have been possible. Special thanks also go to my head at work who generously gave me the space and time to focus on my research project. Last, I would like to deeply thank my parents and fiancé for their ongoing mental support and encouragement in a time that has not always been easy. 3 The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 4 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 List of Figures………………………………………..………………………..…………………………………….…………….8 List of Tables..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….9 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 11 2 Second Language Acquisition .......................................................... 13 2.1 The goals of SLA .................................................................................. 13 2.2 Observed phenomena of SLA .............................................................. 14 2.3 Individual differences affecting SLA ................................................... 16 2.3.1 Age .......................................................................................................................... 17 2.3.2 Motivation .......................................................................................................... 19 2.3.3 Personality .......................................................................................................... 21 2.3.4 Learning style .................................................................................................... 25 2.3.5 Learning strategies ................................................................................................ 25 2.3.6 Aptitude ............................................................................................................. 27 2.4 Second Language Learning and the Human Brain .............................. 29 3 Language Learning Aptitude ............................................................ 33 3.1 Aptitude, Talent, or Giftedness? - clarifying terms .............................. 33 3.2 Defining Language Learning Aptitude ................................................ 35 3.3 Historical Overview of Aptitude Research and Measurement ............. 36 3.3.1 Aptitude research up to 1990 ................................................................................ 36 3.3.2 Aptitude research from 1990 ............................................................................ 40 3.3.2.1 Grigorenko, Sternberg and Ehrman’s composite aptitude concept: the CANAL-F Theory 42 3.3.2.2 Sparks and Ganschow’s Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis ........................ 44 3.3.2.3 Skehan’s Processing Stage Model ............................................................................. 45 3.3.2.4 Robinson’s Aptitude-Treatment Interaction ............................................................ 46 3.3.2.5 Meara’s LLAMA Aptitude Battery ............................................................................ 48 3.4 Language Learning Aptitude and its relationship to other (cognitive) domains ........................................................................................................ 49 3.4.1 Age of Acquisition and Language Aptitude .......................................................... 50 3.4.2 Intelligence and Language Aptitude ................................................................. 52 3.4.3 Working Memory and Language Aptitude ....................................................... 55 3.4.4 Musicality and Language Aptitude ................................................................... 60 4 Research .......................................................................................... 65 4.1 Aim of the study .................................................................................. 65 4.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses .................................................. 66 4.3 Participants ........................................................................................ 67 4.4 Procedure ........................................................................................... 69 4.5 Methods .............................................................................................. 70 4.5.1 Testing Musicality .................................................................................................. 71 4.5.1.1 The IMMA .................................................................................................................. 71 5 4.5.1.2 Singing Aptitude ......................................................................................................... 71 4.5.2 Testing Memory ................................................................................................. 71 4.5.3 Testing Foreign Language Aptitude ................................................................. 72 4.5.3.1 LLAMA B & LLAMA F: Testing rote memory & grammatical inferencing ability .... 72 4.5.3.2 Speech Imitation: Testing phonetic coding ability .................................................... 73 4.5.4 Testing Intelligence: The CFT20-R .................................................................. 74 4.5.5 Questionnaire of Socio-Economic Status (SES) ................................................... 76 5 Results ............................................................................................. 78 5.1 Results: Foreign Language Aptitude, Musicality, Working Memory, and Intelligence ................................................................................................... 78 5.1.1 Results: Foreign Language Aptitude .................................................................... 78 5.1.2 Results: Musicality ................................................................................................ 79 5.1.3 Results: Working Memory .................................................................................... 79 5.1.4 Results: Intelligence (IQ) and Educational Background ...................................... 79 5.2 Core Results: The Interrelation of Foreign Language Aptitude, Musicality, Working Memory, and General Intelligence ............................... 81 5.2.1 Foreign Language Aptitude and Musicality .......................................................... 81 5.2.2 Foreign Language Aptitude and Working Memory .......................................... 82 5.2.3 Foreign Language Aptitude and IQ ...................................................................... 83 5.2.4 Multiple Regression (MLR) .............................................................................. 83 5.3 Further Results ................................................................................... 85 5.3.1 Musicality, Working Memory and IQ ................................................................... 85 5.3.2 Socio-Economic Effects ......................................................................................... 85 6 Discussion ...................................................................................... 88 6.1 The effect of Musicality on Linguistic Performance ............................ 88 6.2 The effect of Working Memory on Linguistic Performance ................. 90 6.3 The effect of Musicality on Working Memory ..................................... 92 6.4 The effect of Intelligence on Linguistic Performance .......................... 92 6.5 Central Factors affecting Linguistic Performance ............................... 93 6.6 The effect of Education on Intelligence, Working Memory, and Musicality ..................................................................................................... 94 6.7 Implications for the Early Foreign Language Classroom .................... 95 7 Conclusion .....................................................................................
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