Dr. Kathy Kim to Study Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition with APA Early Career Research Grant
Dr. Kathy Kim to Study Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition with APA Early Career Research Grant
While it is well-established that we master our first languages through natural exposure, it is less well understood how this “implicit” or “unconscious” acquisition impacts how adults learn additional languages. A new study by Dr. Kathy MinHye Kim, clinical assistant professor of language education, and her colleagues will further explore unconscious second language (L2) acquisition and the variables that impact mastery. “In L2 research, large learner variation exists with L2 learners reaching a certain level of mastery.” says Kim. In this study, Kim and colleagues are interested in the impact of reading exposure, education, and intelligence quotient on implicit L2 learning.
Another part of this project, which will be funded by an American Psychological Association Division 15 Early Career Research Grant, will test whether current understandings of language acquisition is biased by an over-reliance on convenience samplings.
According to Kim, an estimated 67% of second language acquisition studies rely on college or university students as participants. With this grant, Kim and colleagues are hoping to replicate and expand on the findings of a previous study that looked at learners without college degrees.
“A greater representative population is needed to examine the generalizability of the current findings in second language acquisition (SLA),” she explains. “We hope to shed light on the generalizability of second language acquisition research findings to a more global learner population.”
This new project is also a part of a new format of pre-registered proposal, which receive a provisional acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal independent of the results of the study. This new format is designed to reduce publication biases and foster transparency in deductive science and its research practices. Currently, Kim’s proposal has received an in-principle acceptance as a registered report in Language Learning.