![]() |
||
Welcome to International Journal of Research in Social Sciences & HumanitiesE-ISSN : 2249 - 4642 | P-ISSN: 2454 - 4671 IMPACT FACTOR: 8.561 |
Abstract
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN IRAQI EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND THEIR LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Shaymaa Abdul Hussein Al-Mutalebi, Asst. Prof. Dhea Mizhir Krebt. Ph.D.
Volume: 10 Issue: 4 2020
Abstract:
An impressive amount of researches have proposed that human beings possess a mental system that is working memory. Working memory is a cognitive part of individual ability with multiple characteristics that allowsfor information retention and manipulation. The contemporary interest of specialists is that such system has a significant function in learning different linguistic aspects. Students' levels to acquire a foreign language are different, and this could due to the psychological ability that is connected with working memory. Thus, the study investigates the proficiency level of EFL university students and the extent to which it relates to their working memory to outline the efficiency of such capacity in language learning process. For the aim of the study to be achieved, the researcher designs a working memory assessment according to Baddeley's theory and language proficiency test. The major finding confirms that there is a positive correlation between EFL university students' working memory capacity and their language proficiency.
References
- ACTFL American Council on Teaching of Foreign Language, (2012). ACTFL provisional proficiency guidelines. New York.
- Baddeley, A. & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47-90). New York: Academic Press.
- Hitch, G. J. (2010) Working memory. Scholarpedia, 5(2): 3015., revision #137215
- Basta, J. (2011). The role of the communicative approach and Cooperative learning in higher education. Linguistics and Literature. 9 (2) 125-143
- Bragger, J. D. (1985). Materials development for the proficiency-oriented classrrom. C. J. James (Ed.), Foreign language proficiency in the classroom and beyond (79-116). Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company.
- Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach in Language Pedagogy, 2nd Ed. New York: Pearson Education.
- (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
- (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87.
- Ellis, N. C. (2001). Memory for language. In P. Robinson (ed.), Cognition and second language instruction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 33–68.
- Fodor, J. D. (1998). Unambiguous triggers. Linguistic Inquiry 29, 1–36.
- Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexicosemantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 67–81.
- Hummel, K. M. (2002). Second language acquisition and working memory. In F. Fabbro (Ed.), Advances in the neurolinguistics of bilingualism (pp. 95–117). Udine, Italy: Forum.
- King, J., & Just, M. A. (1991). Individual differences in syntactic processing: The rate of working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 580–602.
- Kormos, J., & Sáfár, A. (2008). Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 261-271.
- Levelt, W. (1989). Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Mackey, A., J. Philp, T. Egi, A. Fujii & T. Tatsumi (2002). Individual differences in working memory, noticing of interactional feedback and L2 development. In P. Robinson (ed.), Individual differences and instructed language learning. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, 181–209.
- Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (1998). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Working memory as language aptitude. In A. F. Healy & L. E. Bourne (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies in training and retention (pp. 339–364). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Oberauer, K., Suß, H. M., Wilhelm, O. & Wittman, W. W. (2003). The multiple faces of working ¨ memory: Storage, processing, supervision, and coordination. Intelligence 31, 167–193.
- Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics. (3rd edition.). Essex: Longman.
- Service, E. (1992). Phonology, working memory, and foreign-language learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45A(1), 21-50.
- Swanson, H. L. & Beebe-Frankenberger M. (2004). The relationship between working memory and mathematical problem solving in children at risk and not at risk for math disabilities. J. Educ. Psychol. 96:471–491.
- VanPatten B. (ed.) (2004). Processing instruction: Theory, research, commentary. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Wen, Z. (2012). Working Memory and Second Language Learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, v. 22, n. 1, p. 1-22.
- White, L., Valenzuela, E., Kozlowska-MacGregor, M., & Leung, I. Y.-K. (2004). Gender and number agreement in nonnative Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 105–133.
- Wynn, T. & Coolidge, F. L. (2011). The Implications of the Working Memory Model for the Evolution of Modern Cognition. Research International Journal of Evolutionary Biology Volume, 741357:10.4061/2011/741357.
- Zoghbi⸲ A. (2016). Working memory task gauge (storage-processing). Instruction booklet⸲ Cairo: Anglo-Egyptian Library

Refer & Earn |