#3947. Are individual differences in cognitive abilities and stylistic preferences related to multilingual adults’ performance in explicit learning conditions?

August 2026publication date
Proposal available till 20-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

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Journal’s subject area:
Language and Linguistics;
Linguistics and Language;
Education;
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Abstract:
Research suggests that individual differences in additional language learning may play a more important role in taxing situations when learners are confronted with unfamiliar or difficult tasks. Working with university-level multilingual adults, we compared the effectiveness of traditional instruction (familiar) and concept-based instruction (unfamiliar) to teach the past tense/aspect distinction in Spanish. Learners were pre- and post-tested on their knowledge of the target structure and assessed on language learning aptitude, working memory capacity, verbal-imagery cognitive style and attitudes. While both treatment groups demonstrated significantly improved metalinguistic knowledge, we found no statistical differences between the two groups in terms of knowledge gained or attitudes, and individual differences in cognitive ability were not associated with observed gains. This set of results indicates that the cognitive individual differences measured seemingly no longer played a significant role in these multilinguals’ performance.
Keywords:
concept-based instruction; explicit instruction; individual learner differences; Multilingualism; second language (L2) learning; Spanish past tense/aspect

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