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The extent to which findings in bilingualism research are contingent on specific analytic choices, experimental designs, or operationalisations, is currently unknown. Poor availability of data, analysis code, and materials has hindered the development of cumulative lines of research. In this review, we survey current practices and advocate a credibility revolution in bilingualism research through the adoption of minimum standards of transparency. Full disclosure of data and code is necessary not only to assess the reproducibility of original findings, but also to test the robustness of these findings to different analytic specifications. Similarly, full provision of experimental materials and protocols underpins assessment of both the replicability of original findings, as well as their generalisability to different contexts and samples. We illustrate the review with examples where good practice has advanced the agenda in bilingualism research and highlight resources to help researchers get started.

This registered component includes the protocol, materials, and references for a multi-site replication examining the effects of attention to form on second language comprehension.

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Prediction error is known to enhance priming effects for familiar syntactic structures; it also strengthens the formation of new declarative memories. Here, we investigate whether violating expectations may aid the acquisition of new abstract syntactic structures, too, by enhancing memory for individual instances which can then form the basis for abstraction. In a cross-situational artificial language learning paradigm, participants were exposed to novel syntactic structures in ways that either violated their expectations (Surprisal group) or that conformed to them (Control group). In a delayed post-test, participants were tested on their structural knowledge both by means of structure test trials (cross-situational learning trials focusing on the active / passive distinction, with both familiar and novel verbs), and by a grammaticality judgment task. Participants in the Surprisal group were significantly more accurate than Control on the structure test trials using novel verbs and in the grammaticality judgment task, suggesting they had developed stronger abstract structural knowledge and were better at generalising it to novel instances, even though they were not significantly more likely to become aware of the functional distinction between the two structures. Published manuscript: Bovolenta, G., & Marsden, E. (2021). Expectation violation enhances the development of new abstract syntactic representations: evidence from an artificial language learning study. Language Development Research, 1(1), 193–243. http://dx.doi.org/10.34842/C7T4-PZ50

Prediction error is known to enhance priming effects for familiar syntactic structures; it also strengthens the formation of new declarative memories. This project examines the effect of prediction error on the acquisition of new syntactic structures. In a three-day artificial language learning study, we will test whether encountering a novel structure with an unexpected verb leads to better acquisition of that structure. As a secondary question, we will test whether encountering a novel structure with an unexpected verb also leads to better memory for the context in which it is encountered.

Prediction error is known to enhance priming effects for familiar syntactic structures. This project examines the effect of prediction error on the acquisition of new syntactic structures. In a three-day artificial language learning study, we will test whether encountering a novel structure with an unexpected verb also leads to better acquisition of that structure. This study is the second study of the project on the effect of verb surprisal on the acquisition of new syntactic structures. Relative to the first study, we will modify the experimental manipulation to establish stronger expectations for verbs to be structure-specific. On the first day, participants will be exposed to an artificial language in which verbs only ever occur with one type of structure. On the second day, the surprisal group will be exposed to items that violate these biases. Both groups will be tested on their structural knowledge on the second and third day, using both biased and novel (structure-neutral) verbs.

This study extends previous input-based grammar instruction research (for reviews, DeKeyser and Prieto Botana 2015; Shintani 2015) by comparing two types of input-based practice, each with the same explicit information, for learning L2 German definite article case-marking cues (der, den). Participants (N=138, aged nine to 11) received explicit information followed by either task-essential practice in making form-meaning connections (referential activities from Processing Instruction) OR task-essential practice in spotting the form (noticing activities). Both interventions yielded equivalent durable gains across six ecologically valid tests of comprehension and production (written and oral modalities), compared to negligible gains in a Control group. The findings revealed that, following explicit information, input practice requiring noticing of the target feature (as proposed by Svalberg 2012) was equally effective as task-essential form-meaning connection practice, shedding important light on previous claims in the research agenda on task-essential input practice (e.g. Marsden 2006; Marsden and Chen 2011). Responding to calls for ecologically valid effect-of-instruction research (Mitchell 2000; Spada 2015), this classroom study demonstrates the efficacy of grammar practice for young learners within input-poor foreign language classrooms.