CADERNO DE RESUMOS II Congresso Internacional da ... - Unesp

Programação & Caderno de ResumosThe relationship between working memory capacityand L2 speech developmentJoara Martin Bergsleithner (UESC)Two studies - Bergsleithner (2007) and Weissheimer (2007)- are of vital importance when attempting to relate the constructof working memory (WM) capacity (and its possible development)to the acquisition of L2 speech production. Bergsleithner investigatedthe relationship between WM capacity, noticing of L2 forms, andL2 oral performance by English learners. The experiment consistedof one WM capacity task (Fortkamp, 1999); three oral tasks aimedat measuring grammatical accuracy of the target structure (IndirectQuestions); and an oral protocol aimed at measuring noticing.The results revealed that individuals with a larger WM capacitynoticed more L2 formal aspects of the target structure anddemonstrated better performance in L2 oral tasks. Weissheimeraddressed the question of how WM capacity and L2 speech productioncovary over a period of time, during learners’ L2 speech development.Participants were submitted to two data collection phases, eachone consisting of a WM test (based on Fortkamp, 1999) and aspeech generation task, with a twelve-week interval betweenthe two data collections. The results showed that both lowerand higher span individuals experienced some increase in L2speech production scores in-between phases. However, only lowerspan participants had a statistically significant improvement inWM scores over trials. These studies together lend support tothe fact that WM capacity varies among individuals and thatsuch variation may influence the language acquisition processas well as the use of new structures. In addition, they showthat the WM system is dynamic and susceptible to change.Working Memory Capacity And Speech Production:The Role Of L2 ProficiencyKyria Finardi (UFSC)The relationship between L1 and L2 WMC is a thorny issuesurrounding the discussion of individual differences in L2 speechperformance and development. Recent empirical work has shownthat WMC, as measured by the L2 SST, correlates positively withmeasures of L2 speech performance such as fluency, grammatical82