Kitaek Kim

Aims and Objectives: This study investigates foreign-language (FL) maintenance after formal instruction has ended, examining how peak proficiency (PP), the period of reduced L2 use (RP), and post-instruction language experience (LE) predict the maintenance of instructed L2 English among Korean adults. Design: A cross-sectional design was adopted. PP was operationalized using participants’ English level on South Korea’s nationwide College Scholastic Ability Test, obtained at the end of high school; RP was defined as the number of months elapsed since this point; and LE was measured as a composite index of self-reported post-instruction L2 use and exposure during RP. Data and Analysis: Eighty-eight Korean adults (19–38 years) completed a language background questionnaire, LexTALE, and a cloze test. Lexical (LexTALE) and integrative (cloze) scores were modeled using multiple linear regressions with PP, RP, and LE as predictors, followed by secondary full-sample moderation models testing whether PP moderated the effects of RP and LE. Findings/Conclusions: L2 experience declined sharply after high school but continued rather than ceased. Post-instruction LE consistently predicted current lexical and integrative proficiency, alongside a robust contribution of PP, whereas the duration of reduced use did not, showing only a limited task-specific moderation. Thus, continued LE may be a more meaningful predictor of L2 maintenance than the length of reduced use. Originality: This is the first study to examine adult L2 English maintenance by disentangling PP, the period of reduced use, and post-instruction LE as distinct predictors of current L2 proficiency. Implications: Findings highlight the need for L2/FL attrition research to treat time since instruction and continued experience as distinct constructs and underscore the joint importance of strong initial attainment and sustained post-instruction engagement for long-term L2 maintenance.

L2 learners’ difficulty with English third-person singular (3SG) -s has been attributed either to processing limitations or to representational deficits, but evidence bearing directly on this distinction in real-time comprehension remains limited. Sundara et al. (2011, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research , 54(1), 55–71) showed that 3SG -s is harder for L1-English children to perceive in sentence-medial than in sentence-final position, a pattern suggesting greater phonetic prominence of the morpheme sentence-finally, but comparable L2 evidence is lacking. The present study examined sentence-position effects and online – offline dissociation in L2 English 3SG -s by combining a visual-world eye-tracking task and an offline fill-in-the-blank task. Eye-tracking data from 24 L1-English controls and 23 L1-Korean L2-English learners revealed that, in the singular conditions, both groups processed 3SG -s more slowly in sentence-medial than in sentence-final position. Relative to native speakers, L2 learners also showed delayed target fixations and lower picture-selection accuracy. Crucially, the same learners performed at near-ceiling levels in the fill-in-the-blank task, revealing a clear online – offline dissociation. These results suggest that sensitivity to 3SG -s is less stable under real-time auditory processing demands than in offline written tasks. Overall, the findings are more consistent with processing-based accounts than with strong representational-deficit accounts.

This chapter investigates morphosyntactic complexity in child second language (L2) learners of Korean, examining the roles of internal and external factors. Korean’s rich morphology provides an ideal context for exploring how bilingual children develop grammatical skills. Sixty-eight bilingual children (L1 Chinese or Russian) completed an oral picture-narration task. Two complexity indices — morpheme diversity and particle types per sentence — were analyzed. Regression analyses revealed distinct predictors for each index. Morpheme diversity was significantly associated with length of Korean exposure and working memory, with L2 use with parents emerging as the strongest environmental predictor. In contrast, particle types per sentence were primarily predicted by L2 interaction in social contexts beyond home and school. These findings highlight the combined impact of cognitive capacities and diverse interactional experiences on L2 morphosyntactic development in Korean-learning bilingual children, underscoring the need to consider both individual and contextual factors in understanding L2 grammatical growth.

There is ongoing debate about whether prediction is driven solely by bottom-up associative links or is modulated by top-down goals and strategies. The current study attempts to address this issue by investigating the role of top-down factors in Korean speakers’ predictive processing of honorific agreement. Two visual-world eye-tracking experiments were conducted, analyzing participants’ anticipatory eye movements while manipulating two top-down factors. In Experiment 1, we assigned participants to two groups with different instructions, asking one group to listen to sentences and answer referent-selection questions, and the other group to actively predict the upcoming referent. Experiment 2 manipulated the validity of predictive cues by interspersing experimental items with fillers containing consistent or inconsistent continuations. Results from Experiment 1 showed that participants instructed to actively anticipate the referent used honorific information more quickly to make predictions than the comprehension-only group. In Experiment 2, the group exposed to predictive linguistic stimuli showed an earlier and stronger prediction effect compared to the group exposed to stimuli with no prediction validity. These results suggest that comprehenders engage in different degrees of prediction according to the current demands of task goals and strategies. We discuss these findings in light of recent theories of predictive language processing.

This study explores bidirectional crosslinguistic influence in the interpretation of reflexive pronouns, with a focus on whether L2 English experience induces a regressive L2-to-L1 influence among Korean and Azerbaijani learners. Whereas the English reflexives himself/herself, the Korean caki-casin, and the Azerbaijani öz follow strict syntactic constraints that allow only clause-mate antecedents, the Korean reflexive caki involves additional semantic and discourse factors, making it potentially more susceptible to crosslinguistic influence. Eighty-four L2 English learners (44 L1-Korean, 40 L1-Azerbaijani) completed a picture-based truth-value judgment task in English and in their respective L1s. The task manipulated context (long-distance vs. local) and pronominal type (simple vs. reflexive pronoun). Results showed that all learner groups performed in a target-like manner in English. In their L1, the Azerbaijani participants and Korean participants tested on caki-casin demonstrated consistent local binding, whereas the Koreans tested on caki exhibited considerable variability. Notably, Korean participants with higher proficiency in English showed stricter and more monolithic categorical interpretation patterns-favoring long-distance bindings while disallowing local bindings-than did lower-proficiency participants, suggesting that exposure to L2 English may modulate L1 interpretive preferences. Based on these results, we suggest that caki may be particularly susceptible to crosslinguistic influence.

This study examines the effects of cue validity, proficiency, and immersion experience on the predictive processing of there -associated nouns in expletive sentences. A visual-world eye-tracking task manipulated the validity of the predictive cue by varying verb number (singular; plural) and aspect (simple; perfect): For example, There {is/are/has been/have been} just {one apple/two apples}. The results show that both L1 speakers and L2 learners predicted the target nouns within the predictive region. However, the prediction speed slowed down as cue validity decreased: Singular verbs with the perfect aspect elicited the slowest predictions, followed by singular verbs with the simple aspect and then plural verbs, regardless of the aspect. Furthermore, immersion experience, and not proficiency, affected the L2 predictive processing, with only immersed learners exhibiting predictive patterns. These results suggest that both L1 speakers and L2 learners engage in prediction, but the robustness/timing of their predictions is influenced by linguistic and individual factors.

This study explores how word frequency affects verb‐mediated prediction in L1 and L2 speakers, using a visual‐world eye‐tracking task. By manipulating frequency of nouns within subjects (higher; lower) and type of verbs used as predictive cues (semantically restrictive; neutral) in sentences (e.g., The {doctor/surgeon} {opened/moved} the box ), we investigated the impact of frequency of early‐processed words on prediction, hypothesizing that higher‐frequency words might free up cognitive resources, thus facilitating lexical retrieval, integration with a subsequent predictive cue, and ultimately prediction. Results showed that both L1 and L2 speakers predicted the target object upon hearing restrictive verbs. However, the L2 group showed such a predictive behavior only when the sentences contained higher‐frequency subjects, whereas the L1 group did so in both conditions but faster with higher‐frequency subjects. These results suggest L2 learners’ sound ability to generate predictions, and underscore the importance of word frequency in facilitating both L1 and L2 prediction.

This study investigates how second language (L2) learners engage in prediction based on their processing goals. While prediction is a prominent feature of human sentence comprehension in first–language speakers, it remains less understood when and how L2 learners engage in predictive processing. By conducting a visual–world eye–tracking experiment involving Chinese–speaking L2 learners of Korean, we tested the hypothesis that L2 learners determine whether to engage in prediction by evaluating the costs and benefits of anticipatory processing. The experiment specifically focused on the impact of a top–down comprehension goal for L2 learners’ predictive use of an honorific form in Korean by providing them with different types of task instruction. Our results indicated that all groups engaged in predictive processing in early and entire predictive regions. However, in the late predictive region, L2 learners presented with a prediction–oriented task, but not those with a simple comprehension task, actively generated expectations about the honorific status of an upcoming referent. These findings lend support to the utility account of L2 prediction, suggesting that L2 learners’ engagement in prediction depends on their current goals and strategies for processing efficiency.

This study explores the influence of first language (L1) on the acquisition of second language (L2) English, specifically examining the use of copula be as a topic marker. Although prior research suggests that L1 transfer may impact L2 acquisition of copula be , the evidence remains inconclusive. To address this issue, the study analyzes the use of be in L2 English spoken by learners with topic-prominent L1s (viz., Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and those with non-topic-prominent L1s (viz., Filipino). Using the ICNALE corpus, the study investigates whether L1 topic-prominence affects the use of be in L2 English. The findings reveal that L2-English learners with topic-prominent L1s use copula be more often with definite NPs than those with non-topic-prominent L1s, indicating the influence of L1 topic-prominence properties on the use of copula be . Additionally, learners from topic-prominent L1s more frequently produce nontargetlike topic-comment structures using be verb (e.g., restaurant is many people eat their foods ). Based on these findings, the study discusses the implication of L1 transfer effects in L2 acquisition and emphasizes the importance of a more global and refined understanding of language variation in L2 teaching and learning.