"Chunking in the Second Language: Implications for Language Learning and Teaching"
Serene Wang
Language Scientist and Educator

Many second language learners attain substantial vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and perform well on standardized proficiency tests, yet they continue to experience difficulty in real-time language use despite years of studying. This discrepancy can be understood from a processing-based perspective, emphasizing the role of chunking in real-time language processing.

Chunking refers to the cognitive process by which smaller elements are grouped into larger units, such as from syllables to words, from words to phrases, and beyond. Differences between first (L1) and second language (L2) learning often lead the latter to rely more heavily on word-by-word processing, constraining comprehension and production in the face of rapid speech rates, transient speech signals, and inherent limitations of the human sensory and working memory systems.

Recent empirical findings suggest that chunking facilitates real-time language processing in L1 and L2 speakers alike. These findings invite a reconsideration of common instructional practices that treat language as a system of knowledge to be studied, emphasizing vocabulary words and grammatical structures as categorically distinct areas of instruction. Instead, I argue that a chunk-based language pedagogy that uses multiword units as important building blocks for language may better support real-time processing skills in L2 learners.

Bio: Dr. Serene Wang is a language scientist and educator. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology (Psycholinguistics) from Cornell University, with her dissertation research focusing on the cognitive science of second language learning, chunking, and processing. Outside of the laboratory, she also worked closely with second language learners and speakers in the classroom and language support settings. During her time at Cornell, she taught a reading and writing course for heritage Chinese speakers, two Mandarin Language Across the Curriculum sections attached to Psychology courses, and facilitated English and Mandarin Conversation Hours at the LRC for three years. Dr. Wang is currently working as a local language instructor in Ithaca, teaching ESL at TST BOCES and Mandarin at Raft Education.

This event will be held in person in G25 Stimson and will also be streamed live over Zoom (registration required). Join us at the LRC or on Zoom.

The event is free and open to the public.