Working memory capacity and narrative task performance

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

Authors

This study, which I co-authored with Judit Kormos, investigated the link between working memory capacity and narrative task performance. The participants of the study were 44 secondary school students in their second academic year of an English-Hungarian bilingual educational program in Hungary. The backward digit span test was used to measure participants’ working memory capacity. The students performed two narrative tasks of different degrees of cognitive complexity: one with a given story line and another where the content of the narrative had to be invented. Four global aspects performance were measured: fluency, lexical complexity, accuracy, and grammatical complexity. Task-specific measures included the ratio of correctly used relative clauses, verbs, and past-tense verbs, as well as the ratio of relative clauses compared to the total number of clauses. Results showed that the effect of working memory capacity on students’ narrative performance was limited to one of the tasks, which involved narrating a picture story. Further results indicated that the linguistic variables that differentiated students with different working memory spans were the average length of clauses and the subordination ratio. These findings suggest that high working memory capacity might allow students to produce narratives with high clausal complexity, but it might not be conducive to directing learners’ attention to specific dimensions of the task such as subordination. This study formed part of the research project that I undertook for my PhD dissertation. The novelty of the project was the combination of task-based language teaching research (the examination of the effect of cognitive task complexity on L2 performance) with research on individual differences (the study of how working memory, foreign language aptitude and anxiety influence and underpin L2 performance). Dr Kormos worked with me on this project in the capacity of supervisor of my dissertation.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSecond Language Task Complexity Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of language learning and performance : Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of language learning and performance
EditorsPeter Robinson
Number of pages19
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Publication date2011
Pages267-285
ISBN (print)978 90 272 0719 7
ISBN (electronic)978 90 272 9027 4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2011 John Benjamins Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

DOI

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Marcus Pietsch

Publications

  1. An experience-based learning framework
  2. A Control of an Electromagnetic Actuator Using Model Predictive Control
  3. Investigating quality raters' performance using interface evaluation methods
  4. The Impact of AGVs and Priority Rules in a Real Production Setup – A Simulation Study
  5. A decoupling dynamic estimator for online parameters indentification of permanent magnet three-phase synchronous motors
  6. Performance incentives in activity-based management
  7. Trajectory tracking using MPC and a velocity observer for flat actuator systems in automotive applications
  8. Test of advanced hyperfine structure theory by precision radio-frequency and laser spectroscopy in molybdenum
  9. Toward Data-Driven Analyses of Electronic Text Books
  10. Simulation-based Investigation of Energy Flexibility in the Optimization of Hinterland Drainage
  11. Negotiation complexity
  12. Design, Modeling and Control of an Over-actuated Hexacopter Tilt-Rotor
  13. Distributable Modular Software Framework for Manufacturing Systems
  14. Improvements in Flexibility depend on Stretching Duration
  15. Hacking the Classroom
  16. Design of an Information-Based Distributed Production Planning System
  17. Where pragmatics and dialectology meet: Introducing variational pragmatics
  18. Digital twin support for laser-based assembly assistance
  19. Control system strategy of a modular omnidirectional AGV
  20. Performance of the DSM-5-based criteria for Internet addiction
  21. The Benefit of Web- and Computer-Based Interventions for Stress
  22. Using Long-Duration Static Stretch Training to Counteract Strength and Flexibility Deficits in Moderately Trained Participants
  23. Achieving enhanced mechanical properties in Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Mn alloy by altering dynamic recrystallization behavior via pre-ageing treatment
  24. Internet and computer based interventions for cannabis use
  25. Beyond academic discourse
  26. Public Value: rethinking value creation
  27. Lessons from modeling 100% renewable scenarios using GENeSYS-MOD
  28. How numeric advice precision affects advice taking
  29. Determination of the construction and the material identity values of outside building components with the help of in-situ measuring procedures and FEM-simulation calculations