In the realm of language education, the influence of learners\' personality traits on their educational outcomes within novel instructional frameworks has gained prominence, prompting an exploration into the effects of ambiguity tolerance on grammar acquisition among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. This study investigates the impact of learners\' personality traits on their learning outcomes in innovative instructional models, such as flipped and blended classes. A sample of 120 EFL students was divided into four comparative groups and two control groups based on their proficiency and ambiguity tolerance (AT) scores. The study utilized a Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver instruction to the different groups. The blended group received a combination of online and face-to-face instruction, while the flipped group received online instruction using the flipped approach. The control group received only face-to-face instruction. After a semester of instruction, a posttest on grammar learning was administered. The findings showed that the blended group performed better than the flipped and face-to-face groups in terms of grammar learning. The study also found no significant differences in grammar learning between high AT and low AT participants in the flipped and blended classes. However, high AT students in the face-to-face class demonstrated higher levels of success in grammar learning compared to low AT students.

Children achieve better long-term language outcomes than adults. However, it remains unclear whether children actually learn language more quickly than adults during real-time exposure to input-indicative of true superior language learning abilities-or whether this advantage stems from other factors. To examine this issue, we compared the rate at which children (8-10 years) and adults extracted a novel, hidden linguistic rule, in which novel articles probabilistically predicted the animacy of associated nouns (e.g., \"gi lion\"). Participants categorized these two-word phrases according to a second, explicitly instructed rule over two sessions, separated by an overnight delay. Both children and adults successfully learned the hidden animacy rule through mere exposure to the phrases, showing slower response times and decreased accuracy to occasional phrases that violated the rule. Critically, sensitivity to the hidden rule emerged much more quickly in children than adults; children showed a processing cost for violation trials from very early on in learning, whereas adults did not show reliable sensitivity to the rule until the second session. Children also showed superior generalization of the hidden animacy rule when asked to classify nonword trials (e.g., \"gi badupi\") according to the hidden animacy rule. Children and adults showed similar retention of the hidden rule over the delay period. These results provide insight into the nature of the critical period for language, suggesting that children have a true advantage over adults in the rate of implicit language learning. Relative to adults, children more rapidly extract hidden linguistic structures during real-time language exposure. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Children and adults both succeeded in implicitly learning a novel, uninstructed linguistic rule, based solely on exposure to input. Children learned the novel linguistic rules much more quickly than adults. Children showed better generalization performance than adults when asked to apply the novel rule to nonsense words without semantic content. Results provide insight into the nature of critical period effects in language, indicating that children have an advantage over adults in real-time language learning.

While it is well established that grammar learning success varies with age, the cause of this developmental change is largely unknown. This study examined functional MRI activation across a broad developmental sample of 165 Dutch-speaking individuals (8-25 years) as they were implicitly learning a new grammatical system. This approach allowed us to assess the direct effects of age on grammar learning ability while exploring its neural correlates. In contrast to the alleged advantage of children language learners over adults, we found that adults outperformed children. Moreover, our behavioral data showed a sharp discontinuity in the relationship between age and grammar learning performance: there was a strong positive linear correlation between 8 and 15.4 years of age, after which age had no further effect. Neurally, our data indicate two important findings: (i) during grammar learning, adults and children activate similar brain regions, suggesting continuity in the neural networks that support initial grammar learning; and (ii) activation level is age-dependent, with children showing less activation than older participants. We suggest that these age-dependent processes may constrain developmental effects in grammar learning. The present study provides new insights into the neural basis of age-related differences in grammar learning in second language acquisition.

Advancement in learning grammar and using it practically is one of the challenges of English as foreign learners (EFL) learners. Its progression may be expedited or slowed down by a variety of causes. Among the crucial factors, the possible effects of self-evaluation, teacher support, and L2 grit were still untouched which is the target of the current research. In so doing, 86 EFL students at the intermediate level were divided into two groups (i.e., experimental group and control group). The students in the control group (CG) are exposed to normal education, whereas learners in experimental group (EG) get extra instruction to practice self-evaluation and L2 Grit. Moreover, the emphasis on the teacher\'s position as a facilitator and supporter was more prominent in the EG. Based on data screening which was completed via one-way ANCOVA, learners in EG were more successful in grammar assessment due to the treatment. Further research avenues and educational implications were elaborated upon.

In the second year of life, infants begin to rapidly acquire the lexicon of their native language. A key learning mechanism underlying this acceleration is syntactic bootstrapping: the use of hidden cues in grammar to facilitate vocabulary learning. How infants forge the syntactic-semantic links that underlie this mechanism, however, remains speculative. A hurdle for theories is identifying computationally light strategies that have high precision within the complexity of the linguistic signal. Here, we presented 20-mo-old infants with novel grammatical elements in a complex natural language environment and measured their resultant vocabulary expansion. We found that infants can learn and exploit a natural language syntactic-semantic link in less than 30 min. The rapid speed of acquisition of a new syntactic bootstrap indicates that even emergent syntactic-semantic links can accelerate language learning. The results suggest that infants employ a cognitive network of efficient learning strategies to self-supervise language development.

BACKGROUND: While it is well established that second language (L2) learning success changes with age and across individuals, the underlying neural mechanisms responsible for this developmental shift and these individual differences are largely unknown. We will study the behavioral and neural factors that subserve new grammar and word learning in a large cross-sectional developmental sample. This study falls under the NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [Dutch Research Council]) Language in Interaction consortium (website: https://www.languageininteraction.nl/ ).
METHODS: We will sample 360 healthy individuals across a broad age range between 8 and 25 years. In this paper, we describe the study design and protocol, which involves multiple study visits covering a comprehensive behavioral battery and extensive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols. On the basis of these measures, we will create behavioral and neural fingerprints that capture age-based and individual variability in new language learning. The behavioral fingerprint will be based on first and second language proficiency, memory systems, and executive functioning. We will map the neural fingerprint for each participant using the following MRI modalities: T1-weighted, diffusion-weighted, resting-state functional MRI, and multiple functional-MRI paradigms. With respect to the functional MRI measures, half of the sample will learn grammatical features and half will learn words of a new language. Combining all individual fingerprints allows us to explore the neural maturation effects on grammar and word learning.
CONCLUSIONS: This will be one of the largest neuroimaging studies to date that investigates the developmental shift in L2 learning covering preadolescence to adulthood. Our comprehensive approach of combining behavioral and neuroimaging data will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms influencing this developmental shift and individual differences in new language learning. We aim to answer: (I) do these fingerprints differ according to age and can these explain the age-related differences observed in new language learning? And (II) which aspects of the behavioral and neural fingerprints explain individual differences (across and within ages) in grammar and word learning? The results of this study provide a unique opportunity to understand how the development of brain structure and function influence new language learning success.

This study developed a personalized mobile-assisted system with a self-regulated learning (SRL) mechanism to facilitate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students\' learning of grammar. A quasi-experimental design, involving an experimental group (n = 278) and a control group (n = 320), was adopted to examine its effectiveness on students\' grammar learning. The experimental group, who had full access to the functions of the system (i.e., recommendations, feedback and an e-portfolio package), used the system to learn grammar, complete grammar exercise, and engage in for a semester, while the control group only use the system to submit weekly assignments. The results suggest that the experimental group obtained significantly higher scores in English grammar tests than the control group and the system benefited both genders with no significant differences. The findings provide empirical evidence in support of the effectiveness of this system in improving students\' grammar test scores, indicating its value as a supplementary tool to conventional classroom teaching of English grammar via supporting learners\' SRL development in a m-learning context. The pedagogical implications for applying this system in classrooms and beyond were discussed.

Ravignani et al. (2013) habituated squirrel monkeys to sound sequences conforming to an ABnA grammar (n = 1, 2, 3), then tested them for their reactions to novel grammatical and non-grammatical sequences. Although they conclude that the monkeys \"consistently recognized and generalized the sequence ABnA,\" I remark that this conclusion is not robust. The statistical significance of results depends on specific choices of data analysis, namely dichotomization of the response variable and omission of specific data points. Additionally, there is little evidence of generalization to novel patterns (n = 4, 5), which is important to conclude that the monkeys recognized the ABnA grammar beyond the habituation patterns. Lastly, many test sequences were perceptually similar to habituation sequences, raising the possibility that the monkeys may have generalized based on perceptual similarity rather than based on grammaticality.

The present study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate how Spanish adult learners of Basque respond to morphosyntactic violations after a short period of training on a small fragment of Basque grammar. Participants (n = 17) were exposed to violation and control phrases in three phases (pretest, training, generalization-test). In each phase participants listened to short Basque phrases and they judged whether they were correct or incorrect. During the pre-test and generalization-test, participants did not receive any feedback. During the training blocks feedback was provided after each response. We also ran two Spanish control blocks before and after training. We analyzed the event-related magnetic- field (ERF) recorded in response to a critical word during all three phases. In the pretest, classification was below chance and we found no electrophysiological differences between violation and control stimuli. Then participants were explicitly taught a Basque grammar rule. From the first training block participants were able to correctly classify control and violation stimuli and an evoked violation response was present. Although the timing of the electrophysiological responses matched participants\' L1 effect, the effect size was smaller for L2 and the topographical distribution differed from the L1. While the L1 effect was bilaterally distributed on the auditory sensors, the L2 effect was present at right frontal sensors. During training blocks two and three, the violation-control effect size increased and the topography evolved to a more L1-like pattern. Moreover, this pattern was maintained in the generalization test. We conclude that rapid changes in neuronal responses can be observed in adult learners of a simple morphosyntactic rule, and that native-like responses can be achieved at least in small fragments of second language.

We present the results from a three-day artificial language learning study on adults. The study examined whether sentence-parsing limitations, in particular, difficulties revising initial syntactic/semantic commitments during comprehension, shape learners\' ability to acquire a language. Findings show that both comprehension and production of morphology pertaining to sentence argument structure are delayed when this morphology consistently appears at the end, rather than at the beginning, of sentences in otherwise identical grammatical systems. This suggests that real-time processing constraints impact acquisition; morphological cues that tend to guide linguistic analyses are easier to learn than cues that revise these analyses. Parallel performance in production and comprehension indicates that parsing constraints affect grammatical acquisition, not just real-time commitments. Properties of the linguistic system (e.g., ordering of cues within a sentence) interact with the properties of the cognitive system (cognitive control and conflict-resolution abilities) and together affect language acquisition.