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Electrophysiological correlates of multimodal concept learning in second language technical word acquisition
Poster Session F, Friday, October 2, 2:45 - 4:45 pm, Wangari Maathai
Yen Na Yum1, Jie Wang1, Xiangfei Li1; 1The Education University of Hong Kong
Learning technical vocabulary in a second language (L2) requires conceptually-mediated processes that extend beyond simple word-form mapping. This study examined the electrophysiological correlates of multimodal concept learning among Chinese-English bilingual university students in Hong Kong, focusing on event-related potentials (ERPs) as indices of semantic access and integration at the beginning stage of L2 technical word acquisition. Forty-eight participants were randomly assigned to Image or Concept Map groups and learned twelve novel technical concepts across astronomy, physiology, and visual arts. Half of the concepts were presented in plain text and half in a multimodal format, with participants receiving a 10-second preview of a relevant image or an expert-generated concept map before learning. In all conditions, eight explanatory sentences in English were used to introduce the technical word, for example, “Occultation is the complete blocking of light or signals of an object by another object.” Participants were instructed to learn the words and to respond to questions about their level of interest and ease of learning. Images elicited higher self-reports of learning interest and ease but did not facilitate subsequent recall relative to plain text and concept maps. ERP analyses targeted the N400 (300–499 ms) and P600 (500–699 ms) windows time-locked to the target word, which was always the first word in the sentence. Mixed-effects modelling of individual trials revealed significant trial order in the N400 window. Increasing sequential order produced greater N400 amplitudes at frontal sites and reduced amplitudes at posterior sites (p = .008), possibly indicating that cumulative exposure across trials activated semantic representations. Multimodal learning elicited bilateral N400 amplitudes, but plain text elicited left-lateralized effects (p = .018), consistent with views that left-lateralization reflects integration in the verbal linguistic system. Participants in the concept map condition showed greater frontal negativity than those in the image condition (p = .001) and greater negativity overall across trials (p = .033). A three-way interaction of group x condition x posteriority (p = .027) further showed that concept maps elicited greater frontal N400 amplitudes than plain text, whereas images elicited reduced N400 amplitudes. This could reflect greater engagement with semantic access and integration when attempting to cohere different meanings of a new concept after viewing a concept map. In contrast, associating a single diagram that depicts a meaning did not enhance the N400. In the P600 window, multimodal effects across groups remained pronounced. Image-supported learners exhibited a more frontally distributed positivity while concept map-supported learners showed a posterior distribution (p < .001). For lateralization effects, bilateral positive activations were observed for concepts learned with images, while plain text and concept map-supported concepts exhibited right-lateralized P600 responses (p = .004), perhaps reflecting controlled reanalysis processes in linguistic and conceptual integration across text and images. These results demonstrated that commonly used multimodal supports shape the neurocognitive trajectory of L2 concept learning. This study contributed to the understanding of L2 technical word learning by clarifying how multimodal scaffolds modulated semantic integration and reanalysis in adult learners.
Topic Areas: Multilingualism, Language Development/Acquisition