Jacek Rysiewicz
Does working memory matter in advanced, adult foreign language learning ?
In many studies investigating the relationship of working memory (WM) to higher order cognitive behaviours the index of WM used is based on the subjects’ efficiency to recall, usually in the correct order, whatever to-be-remembered items a given task uses. Those could be words, digits, letters or locations in a grid. Indexed as such, WM construct loses much of the original suggestion of Baddeley and Hitch (1974) who redefined an earlier storage-only view of memory in terms of a system where storage of information and its processing happen simultaneously.
In second/foreign language research WM has been present at least since the first study by Daneman and Carpenter (1980) and was thought to ideally suit the processing demands facing a learner in a language learning situation. Some researchers suggested that it be considered as the individual difference factor responsible for successful language acquisition thus replacing the construct of aptitude altogether. In much of this research, however, only a storage aspect of WM tasks was used thus missing an essential conceptualization of the construct as storage and concurrent processing.
The main aim of the current study was to investigate how storage versus processing aspects of WM are related to FL achievement, and FL aptitude in advanced adult learners of English. Three WM memory tasks (Unsworth et al 2005, Unsworth et al 2009) were used to obtain the scores on WM processing time, WM processing accuracy, and WM recall scores. The three variables were then analysed against the two dependent variables of FL achievement and FL aptitude. The results seem to be pointing towards quite strong independence of WM and FL aptitude as separate constructs showing no or little common variance, and little or negligent relationship between WM and all the components of FL achievement in the sample studied.
References:
Baddeley, A. D. & Hitch, G. 1974. “Working memory”. In G. A. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation. Vol. 8. 47-89. New York: Academic Press.
Daneman, M. & Carpenter, P. A. 1980. Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 19, 450-466.
Unsworth, N., Heitz, R., Schrock, J. & Engle, R. 2005. “An automated version of the operation span task”. Behavior Research Methods, 37/3. 498-505.
Unsworth, N., Redick, T. S., Heitz, R. P., Broadway, J. M. & Engle, R. E. 2009. “Complex working memory span tasks and higher-order cognition: A latent-variable analysis of the relationship between processing and storage”. Memory, 17 (6). 635-654.
Dr Danielle McCormack
Rape in early modern Ireland: the intersection of gender violence, social imperatives, and political conflict.
Abstract: This paper will consider instances of rape, kidnapping and forced marriage of women in Ireland in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. These personal and family traumas are analysed for their importance in expressing collective social norms concerning rape and kidnap. Accounts of such affairs, and legal depositions, can be used to uncover social expectations and the strategies that each party pursued in order to achieve their goals. Thus, the case studies discussed here will illuminate the manner in which alleged victims and aggressors acted out roles that were accorded to them collectively by society in this period. Further, the scandal created by the publicisation of such matters - particularly where members of high social standing were involved - provided a site for the fusion of personal grievance with public concernment as perceptions of events blended with opinions concerning those involved and their suitability for public office. In Ireland of this period, where religious tensions ran high, the confession of parties concerned in rape and kidnap trials could also become a cause of general importance. Sectarian animosities sometimes meant that the trial of the accused burst through the confines of the courtroom into the wider community where it was understood as a matter with implications for the integrity of a religious grouping. This paper will demonstrate the wide variety of insights that can be gained from the historical study of cases of rape, kidnap, and forced marriage.