Jung, Jookyoung; Révész, Andrea; Stainer, Matt; Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana; Shi, Danni; Chung, Yoojin; (2025) The role of learners' cognitive abilities in L2 collocation learning from proactively or interactively enhanced textual input. Learning and Individual Differences , 123 , Article 102759. 10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102759. (In press).

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Abstract

Sixty Chinese ESL learners read three English texts that contained 12 target collocations presented in one of three conditions: no highlighting, proactive highlighting (target collocations highlighted before reading), or interactive highlighting (target collocations highlighted upon gaze detection). Immediate and delayed collocation form recall and recognition tests were administered to measure learning gains. Participants' cognitive abilities were assessed in terms of their explicit language aptitude (LLAMA B and F tests), implicit learning ability (serial reaction time task), and working memory (operation span task and Chinese nonword span task). We found that both proactive and interactive highlighting mitigated the role of LLAMA B scores in recalling target collocation forms. Interactive highlighting was also effective in neutralizing the role of LLAMA B and nonword span scores in recognizing the target collocation forms. However, learners with higher LLAMA F and operation spans benefited more from interactive highlighting when learning new target collocation forms. / / Educational relevance statement: This study examined if the effectiveness of textual enhancement may change depending on second language (L2) learners' language aptitude and working memory in the context of learning new L2 collocations from reading. For this study, two types of textual enhancement techniques were developed, i.e., proactive highlighting (target collocations highlighted in advance of reading) and interactive highlighting (target collocations highlighted upon gaze detection) (Reder, 1973; Révész et al., 2023). The findings of this study revealed the pedagogical efficacy of the textual enhancement technique as a way to mitigate the influence of learners' vocabulary learning aptitude (as assessed with LLAMA B test) in learning new collocations from L2 reading. The interactive highlighting was also shown to be effective in reducing the impact of learners' vocabulary learning aptitude and phonological memory (as measured with Chinese nonword span task) in L2 collocation learning. Additionally, this study found that those with higher language analytic skills (as assessed with LLAMA F test) and executive functions (as measured with operation span task) benefited more from interactive highlighting. These findings suggest that textual enhancement, especially interactive highlighting, may be a useful pedagogical strategy for L2 learners with limited vocabulary and phonological memory, helping them acquire new collocations through reading. Further research will be needed to confirm whether gaze-contingent enhancement might disadvantage learners with lower analytical skills and complex working memory capacity.

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