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Language and Cognition01:27

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Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
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Cognitive Individual Differences in Multilingualism: Language Aptitude and Working Memory in L3 Learners.

Elifcan Öztekin1, Gülcan Erçetin2

  • 1Department of Foreign Language Education, Boğaziçi University, 34342, Bebek, Istanbul, Türkiye. elifcan.oztekin@bogazici.edu.tr.

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|July 1, 2026
PubMed
Summary

Language aptitude and working memory show shared verbal abilities but do not significantly predict third language comprehension beyond prior learning experience. Further research is needed to understand variations in language learning.

Keywords:
L3 learningL3 listening and reading comprehensionLanguage aptitudeWorking memory

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Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Second Language Acquisition

Background:

  • Language aptitude (LA) and working memory (WM) are crucial for language learning.
  • Understanding their interplay is key to explaining individual differences in third language (L3) acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between LA and WM.
  • To determine their predictive power for L3 comprehension.
  • To explore the influence of L3 learning experience.

Main Methods:

  • Factor analysis of LA (LLAMA) and WM tasks (digit span, rotation, symmetry, operation span).
  • Assessment of L3 listening and reading comprehension in L1 Turkish-English majors.
  • Correlation and regression analyses to examine predictive roles.

Main Results:

  • Factor analysis identified distinct verbal/phonological memory, visuospatial WM, and LA factors.
  • L3 learning experience did not correlate with cognitive factors.
  • Cognitive factors did not significantly predict L3 comprehension beyond L3 experience.

Conclusions:

  • LA and WM share underlying verbal abilities.
  • L3 learning experience is a more significant predictor of L3 comprehension than LA and WM in this population.
  • Variations in L3 experience may account for differences in L3 proficiency.