The Use of Indirect Positive Evidence in Second Language Morphological Learning by Different First Language Learners

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of learners’ first language on their detection of indirect positive evidence presented in their second language while learning the plural morphology of an additional foreign language. The goal is to explore an alternative approach to learning foreign language grammars. The participants were 43 native Thai-speaking and 42 native Spanish-speaking learners of Mandarin who had advanced proficiency in second language English. They were divided into experimental and control groups and learned 12 Mandarin nouns in their singular form over 2 consecutive days. Only the experimental group was exposed to indirect positive evidence that provided evidence of the unmarked plural feature in Mandarin. After the learning phase, participants’ knowledge of the learned words was tested using singular and plural prompts. Follow-up questions were asked to investigate the basis of participants’ responses. The results showed that six Thai and three Spanish participants detected and used the indirect positive evidence. This finding suggests that language learners differ in their ability to adopt and use indirect positive evidence as a function of their first language background.