Phonological memory and second language speech production: A longitudinal study of English-speaking adults learning Spanish

The purpose of the research reported in this dissertation was to investigate the role of phonological memory in second language speech production by adult learners. Phonological memory is a component of working memory specialized for holding verbal information for short periods of time. Its hypothesized function is to facilitate the learning of new words and its role in children's acquisition of their native (L1) and second languages (L2) is well established. The few studies that have investigated the relationship between phonological memory and adult L2 acquisition have tended to be laboratory-based experiments and none has looked at its role in L2 speech production by adults as was done in the present study.; The studies reported here investigated the relationship between phonological memory and the development of L2 oral fluency and grammatical skills. Participants were 43 English-speaking adults (M = 21.84, SD = 7.00) enrolled in Spanish language courses at the university level. Phonological memory was assessed at the start (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of a 13-week semester and participants were interviewed in Spanish at both times. Phonological memory was measured using serial nonword recognition which required participants to determine whether the presentation order of a pair of identical nonword sequences (sequence lengths of 5, 6, and 7 items) was the same or different. Four-minute extracts from the interviews were analyzed for Time 1 and Time 2 measures of Spanish oral ability.; Study 1 examined the relationship between phonological memory (as assessed above) and Spanish oral fluency (temporal and hesitation phenomena). The oral fluency measures were obtained from the four-minute extracts of interviews obtained at Time 1 and Time 2. Participants were divided into those who gained in Spanish oral fluency during the semester and those who did not gain.; Study 2 investigated the role of phonological memory (as assessed in Study 1) in the development of Spanish productive vocabulary, lexically-based narrative abilities and correct use of grammatical structures. The Spanish oral measures were obtained from the same four-minute extracts as in Study 1. Participants were divided into those with initially lower levels and those with initially higher levels of Spanish achievement. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...