ERIC Number: EJ1073909
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Why Segmentation Matters: Experience-Driven Segmentation Errors Impair "Morpheme" Learning
Finn, Amy S.; Hudson Kam, Carla L.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v41 n5 p1560-1569 Sep 2015
We ask whether an adult learner's knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners' ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically triggered variation of morphemes. We find that learning is impaired when words and component morphemes are structured to conflict with a learner's native-language phonotactic system, but not when native-language phonotactics do not conflict with morpheme boundaries in the artificial language. A learner's native-language knowledge can therefore have a cascading impact affecting word segmentation and the morphological variation that relies upon proper segmentation. These results show that getting word segmentation right early in learning is deeply important for learning other aspects of language, even those (morphology) that are known to pose a great difficulty for adult language learners.
Descriptors: Morphemes, Adult Learning, Second Language Learning, Morphology (Languages), Native Language, Difficulty Level, Phonology, Interference (Language), Undergraduate Students, English, Artificial Languages, Task Analysis, Syllables, Test Items, Prediction, Control Groups, Experimental Groups, Error Patterns
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: HD 048572