Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T14:08:20.398Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Theorizing and measuring working memory in first and second language research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2014

Zhisheng Wen
Zhisheng Wen*
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Working memory (WM) generally refers to the human ability to temporarily maintain and manipulate a limited amount of information in immediate consciousness when carrying out complex cognitive tasks such as problem-solving and language comprehension. Though much controversy has surrounded the WM concept since its inception by Baddeley & Hitch (1974), an increasing number of cognitive psychologists have accepted WM as a multi-component system comprising both domain-specific storage mechanisms and domain-general executive functions (Miyake & Shah 1999; Baddeley 2012; Williams 2012). Such a fractionated view of this cognitive construct manifests itself clearly in distinct strands of WM-language research, where two contrasting research paradigms have emerged (Wen 2012).

Type
Research Timeline
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 174 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baddeley, A. D. (2012). Working memory: Theories, models and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology 63, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engel de Abreu, P. M. J. & Gathercole, S. E. (2012). Executive and phonological processes in second language acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology 104, 974–986.Google Scholar
Kail, R. & Hall, L. K. (2001). Distinguishing short-term memory from working memory. Memory & Cognition 29, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wen, Z. (2012). Working memory and second language learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 22, 1–22.Google Scholar