Ellen Johnson Serafini
Research Statement
My work is rooted in a cognitive-interactionist approach to adult second language acquisition (SLA) and
bilingualism whose core goal is to assess the differential impact of and interaction between internal and external
factors that constrain the rate and outcome of learning. My ongoing research projects focus on external factors
such as the effectiveness of corrective feedback in instructed and dual immersion classrooms as well as internal
factors such as the impact of individual differences (IDs) on cognitive control in multilinguals. My dissertation
research investigates the role of learner IDs in a formal context and pursues a key question driving SLA
research: how do IDs constrain the rate at which knowledge of a second language (L2) develops over time?
Second Language Learner Individual Differences My dissertation is motivated by fundamental questions we
ask ourselves as researchers and teachers pertaining to what learners know in their second language, how this
knowledge varies as learners progress in skill and why learners vary so greatly in the speed and efficiency of L2
development and retention. I specifically investigate relationships between cognitive capacity (i.e., L2 aptitude,
working memory capacity, phonological short-term memory, processing efficiency) and L2 motivation, and
performance on assessments of morphosyntactic knowledge of Spanish in learners at three proficiency levels
(novice, intermediate & advanced) and at three points in time during (3 months) and after (1 month) a semester
of instruction. I further distinguish between implicit (knowledge of) and explicit (knowledge about) ways of
knowing and using Spanish; in so doing, this study contributes to a growing research strand aiming to improve
the validity and reliability of assessment techniques to measure type of L2 knowledge (e.g., Bowles, 2011; R.
Ellis, 2005, 2009; Han & Ellis, 1998). In addition to traditional statistical analyses, I employ innovative
empirical analyses such as growth curve linear modeling to more accurately capture learning growth trajectories
and their relationship to ID variables.
Results of my dissertation promise to make both theoretical and practical contributions to the field of SLA and
language teaching by uniquely providing a comprehensive picture of the role of IDs across the developmental
continuum and over time. Moreover, this research advances our understanding of what Spanish learners know
and the nature of their access to this knowledge. In conjunction with my dissertation, I am accumulating data
based on two projects. One is a conceptual replication of a recent study by Bowles (2011), which was the first to
confirm the validity of R. Ellis's implicit/explicit test battery with heritage and classroom learners of Spanish,
and the second extends this research strand to graduating Spanish language majors using similar measures. In
order to make methodological improvements to my test battery and ensure timely completion of my
dissertation, I am using competitive funding awarded by Language Learning and Georgetown to purchase data
collection tools such as a voice key (SV-1) to measure oral reaction times and to train undergraduates majoring
in Spanish and/or linguistics in data transcription, coding, and scoring procedures in our field.
I intend to publish five articles in refereed journals drawing from my expansive database. First, I plan to submit
two articles to Language Learning, a general article focused on the separate and joint capacity of ID factors to
account for overall performance variance according to proficiency level as well as a more fine-grained analysis
according to morphosyntactic complexity. I am also preparing the report of my replication of Bowles' study to
be submitted to Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Finally, I plan to submit articles to Hispania and The
Modern Language Journal on the relative robustness of two dominant measures of second language motivation
in capturing a relationship to development over time as well as the status of implicit and explicit linguistic
knowledge in Spanish majors by the end of their course of study. In the long term, I plan to pursue a book that
elaborates a diverse range of learner profiles based on my cumulative research investigating the role of
cognitive and psychosocial IDs across the proficiency spectrum. I ultimately aim to explore how such profiles
interact with different types of feedback in determining learning outcomes, currently a key force driving
classroom research (Robinson, 2001).
Bilingualism & Cognition: Cognitive Control in Multilinguals Parallel to my interest in learner internal
differences in a classroom context is my investigation into the role of cognitive capacity in bilinguals with
varying language learning experience. Previous research has demonstrated a bilingual advantage in the ability to
maintain attention despite distracting information, or the inhibitory control function in executive attention (e.g.,
Costa, Hernández, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2008; Hernández, Costa, Fuentes, Vivas, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2010).
However, few studies have studied late or unbalanced bilinguals (e.g., Bialystok, Craik, & Luk, 2008; Stafford,
2011), providing only a descriptive evidence of this advantage relative to monolinguals. To address outstanding
questions regarding how proficiency, age/manner of acquisition, frequency/context of use and additional
language experience (i.e., multilingualism) influence the bilingual advantage, I collaborated with Kaitlyn
Tagarelli to collect cognitive ability measures and detailed language background information from 45 older and
younger adult monolinguals, bilinguals and multilinguals. At the GURT conference in Washington, DC this
year, we reported on multiple operationalizations of bilingualism and how these relate to various aspects of
cognition. We plan to continue data collection in order to fully address our research questions.
Corrective Feedback Provision and Technology in the L2 Classroom My experience as a language
administrator and teacher has ensured that my research interests extend to the classroom and address practical
issues for teachers. I am particularly interested in the role external factors such as corrective feedback play in
explaining high variability in second language learning. In previous studies investigating the relative
effectiveness of feedback type, a teacher or computer has typically provided learners with feedback (e.g. Carroll
& Swain, 1993; DeKeyser, 1993; Ellis, Loewen & Erlam, 2006; Nagata, 1993; Rosa & Leow, 2004; Sanz,
2003). I implemented a novel source of computer-mediated feedback using hand-held devices, or "clickers" in
seven intact beginning Spanish classes randomly assigned to feedback conditions varying in explicitness.
Performance results showed significant improvement in the ability to comprehend and produce the target
structure for all groups, with less improvement for the group receiving delayed feedback. A bottom-up analysis
in NVivo revealed highly positive teacher and learner perceptions of this technology and, perhaps more
importantly, insights into its limitations as a teaching tool.
I have been invited to share my expertise in clicker-based feedback with graduate students and language
practitioners alike at American and Georgetown University and in two school-wide workshops hosted by the
Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) at Georgetown. I have also reported my
research in this area at the two most selective conferences in our field, SLRF (2010) and AAAL (2011) and
been invited to publish both qualitative and qualitative findings in two book chapters, the first in a manuscript
by John Benjamins (In press) and the second as a coauthor in a forthcoming volume. In future projects, I intend
to explore clicker-based feedback at more advanced levels of instruction.
Feedback Provision in Dual Immersion Context I have also had the opportunity to extend my study of
corrective feedback to a child dual immersion context. Working with minority language students as a consultant
for the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC inspired me to seek out a classroom research
opportunity in a dual immersion school in my community. I collaborated with a 5th-grade Spanish-English
teacher team in a local public bilingual school to conduct a two-month structured observational pilot study of
corrective feedback patterns in both Spanish and English language environments. I presented the results at
AAAL in Boston this spring for which I was recognized as one of the top twenty-rated graduate student
abstracts out of several hundred. This study also garnered an invitation for submission from an editor of the
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education (John Benjamins), a work now in progress.
As a researcher, I am committed to advancing our understanding of the ways foreign language learners and
bilinguals differ from one another and how such differences coupled with pedagogical techniques impact
language development and maintenance alike. I firmly believe that my comprehensive, yet unified research
agenda will contribute to the improvement of foreign language and bilingual education and genuinely look
forward to continuing research as an independent scholar and mentor to others.