Language learning in context: an investigation of the processing and learning of new linguistic information.

Naturalistic language learning is contextually grounded. When people learn their first (L1) and often their second (L2) language, they do so in various contexts. In this dissertation I examine the effect of various contexts on language development. Part 1 describes the effects of textual, linguistic context in reading. I employed an eye-tracking and a think-aloud experiment to examine how native and non-native speakers of English process new words presented in full sentences. The results from the mixed-methods approach indicate similar processes of semantic integration for both speaker groups, with the L2 group putting greater intentionality and effort into the task and engaging in deeper processing. Subsequently, I operationalized context as additional information present in the learning environment, linguistic or visual. In two sets of related studies, I used self-paced reading (Part 3) and eye-tracking (Part 4) to track the learning process of L2 morphosyntax, as well as a series of offline receptive and productive tasks to evaluate learning outcomes. The results suggest a facilitative role for contextual information, both linguistic (L1 translations) and visual (images depicting sentence content). When no additional support was offered, learning was significantly diminished. The multi-method approach allowed me to operationalize ‘learning’ both as a process and as a product and to measure the various nuances of the construct. Results show how reading/reaction times gradually reduce as a result of learning; subsequent receptive and productive tasks reveal high accuracy and confirm that the L2 morphosyntax had been learned. Taken together, the results of this dissertation projects underscore the importance of context for language learning and show that when we manipulate contextual information, we alter both the learning process and its outcomes