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Prediction in Second Language Processing and Learning
Edited by Edith Kaan and Theres Grüter
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 12] 2021
► pp. 167–186

Chapter 8
Prediction and grammatical learning in second language sentence processing

| University of Braunschweig

With a focus on grammatical processing, the chapter surveys recent studies that investigate how second language (L2) learners learn to predict and whether they use prediction for learning the L2 grammar. This chapter first reviews theoretical approaches to the roles of prediction and prediction error as learning mechanisms in first language (L1) and L2 processing. Drawing on priming, (visual-world) eye-tracking and reading-time data, I then discuss how adult L2 learners may differ from monolingual speakers in learning to predict and using prediction for learning. The chapter identifies two key areas in which L2 learning from prediction may be circumscribed, namely, the role of awareness and explicit memory in prediction and the degree to which L2 learners can identify the source of their prediction errors.

Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Grammatical learning and prediction
  • Learning and prediction in L2 acquisition
    • Learning to predict in an L2
    • Learning to predict due to exposure and structural priming
    • Predicting to learn in an L2
    • Syntactic adaptation and the consequences of prediction error
  • Conclusions and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.12.08hop
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