讲座时间：2020年5月20日晚上7:30

讲座题目：Working Memory in Second Language Acquisition: Clarifying the Construct and Examining the Evidence

Working memory is a cognitive space for simultaneous information manipulation and storage. In the field of second language acquisition, working memory has been investigated as a key individual difference variable mediating various aspects of the process and outcome of language learning. Despite the voluminous body of research, there has been confusion over its conceptualization, measurement, and mechanism, and the research has yielded disparate, and sometimes contradictory, findings. This talk seeks to clarify the construct and navigate through the empirical evidence that has been accumulated over the past three decades with a view to extracting meaningful patterns and trends emerging from the research. The talk starts with a discussion of the theories, architecture, and measurement of working memory, followed by a synthesis of the research findings on its associations with other individual difference variables and with learning outcomes, and concludes by identifying issues, proposing remedies, and pointing out future directions.

主讲人简介：

李少锋博士现任职于美国佛罗里达州立大学，为外语与二语教育专业博士生导师、专业负责人，郑州大学特聘教授。主要研究方向为二语习得、语言学习认知能力、任务型学习与教学、以及量化研究方法(包括元分析)。他师从著名应用语言学家Susan Gass，获美国密歇根州立大学二语研究博士学位。近几年在国内外权威SSCI及CSSCI期刊上发表多篇学术论文，期刊包括Applied Linguistics,Applied Psycholinguistics,ELT Journal, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Learning, Language Teaching, Language Teaching Research, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Modern Language Journal, International Review of Applied Linguistics,《现代外语》,《外语与外语教学》,《当代外语研究》等。他目前也担任多家学术期刊编委和评审。2016年获得新西兰学术界最高科研奖Marsden Fund,总额为30万纽币(约150万人民币)，用于资助有关隐性语言学习能力的重大科研项目，并得到了新华社等多家媒体的报道及转载。李少锋博士曾先后在中国、新西兰及美国多所高校任教，教授的课程包括Second Language Acquisition, Second Language Classroom Research, Individual Differences, Instructed Language Learning, Learner Language, Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning等。