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
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