Cover not available

In:Prediction in Second Language Processing and Learning
Edited by Edith Kaan and Theres Grüter
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 12] 2021
► pp. 187–206

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 9
The role of prediction in second language vocabulary learning

 | Cardiff University
Published online: 22 September 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.12.09gam
Abstract
While we have a good understanding of how prediction is implicated in processing utterances in a second language, the idea that prediction may also be implicated in learning a second language has so far received very little attention. I briefly review the evidence for and against prediction as a fundamental mechanism of language acquisition in childhood, focusing in particular on the links between children’s prediction skills and their vocabulary knowledge. I then illustrate how prediction, and in particular prediction errors, may drive learning of new words in adults, by supporting the encoding and consolidation of representations for these words in memory. Finally, I discuss how prediction-based mechanisms might be implicated in generating and sustaining motivation to learn a second language.
Article outline
  • Overview
  • Prediction and L1 vocabulary acquisition in children
  • Prediction and vocabulary learning in adults
  • Prediction and motivation in L2 vocabulary learning
  • Summary and open questions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
References (86)
References
Ackermann, L., Hepach, R., & Mani, N. (2020). Children learn words easier when they are interested in the category to which the word belongs. Developmental Science, 23(3), e12915. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baillargeon, R., Spelke, E. S., & Wasserman, S. (1985). Object permanence in five-month-old infants. Cognition, 20(3), 191–208. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benitez, V. L., & Saffran, J. R. (2018). Predictable events enhance word learning in toddlers. Current Biology, 28(17), 2787–2793. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benitez, V. L., & Smith, L. B. (2012). Predictable locations aid early object name learning. Cognition, 125(3), 339–352. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berger, A., Tzur, G., & Posner, M. I. (2006). Infant brains detect arithmetic errors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(33), 12649–12653. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bjork, R. A., & Kroll, J. F. (2015). Desirable difficulties in vocabulary learning. The American Journal of Psychology, 128(2), 241–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonney, C. R., Cortina, K. S., Smith-Darden, J. P., & Fiori, K. L. (2008). Understanding strategies in foreign language learning: Are integrative and intrinsic motives distinct predictors? Learning and Individual Differences, 18(1), 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borovsky, A. (2016). The amount and structure of prior event experience affects anticipatory sentence interpretation. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 32(2), 190–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borovsky, A., Elman, J. L., & Fernald, A. (2012). Knowing a lot for one’s age: Vocabulary skill and not age is associated with anticipatory incremental sentence interpretation in children and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112(4), 417–436. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borovsky, A., Kutas, M., & Elman, J. (2010). Learning to use words: Event-related potentials index single-shot contextual word learning. Cognition, 116(2), 289–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brod, G., Hasselhorn, M., & Bunge, S. A. (2018). When generating a prediction boosts learning: The element of surprise. Learning and Instruction, 55, 22–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, F. (2002). Symbolically speaking: A connectionist model of sentence production. Cognitive Science, 26(5), 609–651. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, F., Dell, G. S., & Bock, K. (2006). Becoming syntactic. Psychological Review, 113(2), 234–272. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dörnyei, Z. (2014). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elman, J. L. (1990). Finding structure in time. Cognitive Science, 14(2), 179–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
European Commission (2012). Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages. Retrieved from [URL]
Federmeier, K. D., & Kutas, M. (1999). A rose by any other name: Long-term memory structure and sentence processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 41(4), 469–495. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernald, A., Perfors, A., & Marchman, V. A. (2006). Picking up speed in understanding: Speech processing efficiency and vocabulary growth across the 2nd year. Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 98–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Hurtado, N. (2008). Input affects uptake: How early language experience influences processing efficiency and vocabulary learning. In Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning, Monterey, CA (pp. 37–42). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fitneva, S. A., & Christiansen, M. H. (2011). Looking in the wrong direction correlates with more accurate word learning. Cognitive Science, 35(2), 367–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Developmental changes in cross-situational word learning: The inverse effect of initial accuracy. Cognitive Science, 41(S1), 141–161. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucart, A., Martin, C. D., Moreno, E. M., & Costa, A. (2014). Can bilinguals see it coming? Word anticipation in L2 sentence reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(5), 1461–1469. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucart, A., Ruiz-Tada, E., & Costa, A. (2016). Anticipation processes in L2 speech comprehension: Evidence from ERPs and lexical recognition task. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(01), 213–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Friedrich, M., & Friederici, A. D. (2004). N400-like semantic incongruity effect in 19-month-olds: Processing known words in picture contexts. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(8), 1465–1477. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gambi, C., Gorrie, F., Pickering, M. J., & Rabagliati, H. (2018). The development of linguistic prediction: Predictions of sound and meaning in 2- to 5-year-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 173, 351–370. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gambi, C., Jindal, P., Sharpe, S., Pickering, M. J., & Rabagliati, H. (2020). The relation between preschoolers’ vocabulary development and their ability to predict and recognize words. Child Development. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gambi, C., Pickering, M. J., & Rabagliati, H. (2016). Beyond Associations: Sensitivity to structure in pre-schoolers’ linguistic predictions. Cognition, 157, 340–351. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Prediction error boosts retention of novel words in adults but not in children. Cognition, 211, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibson, E., Bergen, L., & Piantadosi, S. T. (2013). Rational integration of noisy evidence and prior semantic expectations in sentence interpretation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(20), 8051–8056. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greve, A., Cooper, E., Kaula, A., Anderson, M. C., & Henson, R. (2017). Does prediction error drive one-shot declarative learning? Journal of Memory and Language, 94, 149–165. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grimmick, C., Gureckis, T. M., & Kachergis, G. (2019). Evidence of error-driven cross-situational word learning. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Montreal, Canada. [URL]
Gruber, M. J., Gelman, B. D., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron, 84(2), 486–496. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gruber, M. J., & Ranganath, C. (2019). How curiosity enhances hippocampus-dependent memory: The Prediction, Appraisal, Curiosity, and Exploration (PACE) framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(12), 1014–1025. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grüter, T., Rohde, H., & Schafer, A. J. (2017). Coreference and discourse coherence in L2: The roles of grammatical aspect and referential form. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 7(2), 199–229. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Havron, N., de Carvalho, A., Fiévet, A. C., & Christophe, A. (2019). Three-to four-year-old children rapidly adapt their predictions and use them to learn novel word meanings. Child Development, 90(1), 82–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hintz, F., Meyer, A. S., & Huettig, F. (2017). Predictors of verb-mediated anticipatory eye movements in the visual world. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(9), 1352–1374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huettig, F. (2015). Four central questions about prediction in language processing. Brain Research, 1626, 118–135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ito, A., Corley, M., & Pickering, M. J. (2018). A cognitive load delays predictive eye movements similarly during L1 and L2 comprehension. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(2), 251–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ito, A., Martin, A. E., & Nieuwland, M. S. (2016). How robust are prediction effects in language comprehension? Failure to replicate article-elicited N400 effects. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 32(8), 954–965. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
John, M. F. S., & McClelland, J. L. (1990). Learning and applying contextual constraints in sentence comprehension. Artificial Intelligence, 46(1–2), 217–257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaan, E. (2014). Predictive sentence processing in L2 and L1: What is different? Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 4(2), 257–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kang, M. J., Hsu, M., Krajbich, I. M., Loewenstein, G., McClure, S. M., Wang, J. T.-Y., & Camerer, C. F. (2009). The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science, 20(8), 963–973. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3), 449–460. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuperberg, G. R., & Jaeger, T. (2016). What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(1), 32–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Legare, C. H. (2012). Exploring explanation: Explaining inconsistent evidence informs exploratory, hypothesis-testing behavior in young children. Child Development, 83(1), 173–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindsay, L., Gambi, C., & Rabagliati, H. (2019). Preschoolers optimize the timing of their conversational turns through flexible coordination of language comprehension and production. Psychological Science, 30(4), 504–515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lukyanenko, C., & Fisher, C. (2016). Where are the cookies? Two- and three-year-olds use number-marked verbs to anticipate upcoming nouns. Cognition, 146, 349–370. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mahr, T., McMillan, B. T., Saffran, J. R., Weismer, S. E., & Edwards, J. (2015). Anticipatory coarticulation facilitates word recognition in toddlers. Cognition, 142, 345–350. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mani, N., Daum, M. M., & Huettig, F. (2016). “Pro-active” in many ways: Developmental evidence for a dynamic pluralistic approach to prediction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(11), 2189–2201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mani, N., & Huettig, F. (2012). Prediction during language processing is a piece of cake – but only for skilled producers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(4), 843–847. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, C. D., Thierry, G., Kuipers, J.-R., Boutonnet, B., Foucart, A., & Costa, A. (2013). Bilinguals reading in their second language do not predict upcoming words as native readers do. Journal of Memory and Language, 69(4), 574–588. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masgoret, A. M., & Gardner, R. C. (2003). Attitudes, motivation, and second language learning: A meta-analysis of studies conducted by Gardner and associates. Language Learning, 53(S1), 167–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mathôt, S. (2018). Pupillometry: Psychology, physiology, and function. Journal of Cognition, 1(1), 16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merriman, W. E., & Bowman, L. L. (1989). The mutual exclusivity bias in children’s word learning. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 54, 1–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mishra, R. K., Singh, N., Pandey, A., & Huettig, F. (2012). Spoken language-mediated anticipatory eye movements are modulated by reading ability: Evidence from Indian low and high literates. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 5(1), 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitsugi, S., & MacWhinney, B. (2016). The use of case marking for predictive processing in second language Japanese. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(01), 19–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murayama, K. (2019). A reward-learning framework of autonomous knowledge acquisition: An integrated account of curiosity, interest, and intrinsic-extrinsic rewards (Unpublished manuscript). Retrieved from: [URL]
Murayama, K., FitzGibbon, L., & Sakaki, M. (2019). Process account of curiosity and interest: A reward-learning perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 875–895. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murty, V. P., & Adcock, R. A. (2014). Enriched encoding: Reward motivation organizes cortical networks for hippocampal detection of unexpected events. Cerebral Cortex, 24(8), 2160–2168. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Doherty, J. P. (2004). Reward representations and reward-related learning in the human brain: Insights from neuroimaging. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(6), 769–776. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peter, M., Chang, F., Pine, J. M., Blything, R., & Rowland, C. F. (2015). When and how do children develop knowledge of verb argument structure? Evidence from verb bias effects in a structural priming task. Journal of Memory and Language, 81, 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pickering, M. J., & Gambi, C. (2018). Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review. Psychological Bulletin, 144(10), 1002–1044. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. (2013). An integrated theory of language production and comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(4), 329–392. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Potts, R., Davies, G., & Shanks, D. R. (2019). The benefit of generating errors during learning: What is the locus of the effect? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(6), 1023–1041. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Potts, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2014). The benefit of generating errors during learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(2), 644–667. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pressley, M., Wood, E., Woloshyn, V. E., Martin, V., King, A., & Menke, D. (1992). Encouraging mindful use of prior knowledge: Attempting to construct explanatory answers facilitates learning. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), 91–109. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rabagliati, H., Gambi, C., & Pickering, M. J. (2016). Learning to predict or predicting to learn? Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, 31(1), 94–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramscar, M., Dye, M., & McCauley, S. M. (2013). Error and expectation in language learning: The curious absence of mouses in adult speech. Language, 89(4), 760–793. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A., & Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. Classical conditioning II: Current research and theory, 2, 64–99.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reuter, T., Borovsky, A., & Lew-Williams, C. (2019). Predict and redirect: Prediction errors support children’s word learning. Developmental Psychology, 55(8), 1656–1665. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ripollés, P., Ferreri, L., Mas-Herrero, E., Alicart, H., Gómez-Andrés, A., Marco-Pallares, J., Antonijoan, R. M., Noesselt, T., Valle, M., Riba, J., & Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2018). Intrinsically regulated learning is modulated by synaptic dopamine signaling. Elife, 7, e38113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ripolles, P., Marco-Pallares, J., Alicart, H., Tempelmann, C., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., & Noesselt, T. (2016). Intrinsic monitoring of learning success facilitates memory encoding via the activation of the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop. Elife, 5, e17441. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ripollés, P., Marco-Pallarés, J., Hielscher, U., Mestres-Missé, A., Tempelmann, C., Heinze, H.-J., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., & Noesselt, T. (2014). The role of reward in word learning and its implications for language acquisition. Current Biology, 24(21), 2606–2611. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rommers, J., & Federmeier, K. D. (2018a). Lingering expectations: A pseudo-repetition effect for words previously expected but not presented. NeuroImage, 183, 263–272. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018b). Predictability’s aftermath: Downstream consequences of word predictability as revealed by repetition effects. Cortex, 101, 16–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saffran, J. R. (2020). Statistical language learning in infancy. Child Development Perspectives, 14(1), 49–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shohamy, D., & Adcock, R. A. (2010). Dopamine and adaptive memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(10), 464–472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. (1978). The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4(6), 592–604. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stahl, A. E., & Feigenson, L. (2015). Observing the unexpected enhances infants’ learning and exploration. Science, 348(6230), 91–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Expectancy violations promote learning in young children. Cognition, 163, 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ylinen, S., Bosseler, A., Junttila, K., & Huotilainen, M. (2017). Predictive coding accelerates word recognition and learning in the early stages of language development. Developmental Science, 20(6), e12472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, C., & Smith, L. B. (2007). Rapid word learning under uncertainty via cross-situational statistics. Psychological Science, 18(5), 414–420. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yurovsky, D., Case, S., & Frank, M. C. (2017). Preschoolers flexibly adapt to linguistic input in a noisy channel. Psychological Science, 28(1), 132–140. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Ito, Aine
2024. Phonological prediction during comprehension: A review and meta-analysis of visual-world eye-tracking studies. Journal of Memory and Language 139 ► pp. 104553 ff. DOI logo
Kaan, Edith, Haoyun Dai & Xiaodong Xu
2024. Adaptation in L2 sentence processing: An EEG study. Second Language Research 40:4 ► pp. 887 ff. DOI logo
Alzahrani, Alaa
2023. What is the next structure? Guessing enhances L2 syntactic learning in a syntactic priming task. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue