| A University of Oregon study found that repeatedly producing words in a new language inhibits the ability to produce corresponding words in the native language. That finding provides a mechanism for understanding how a person temporarily loses words from their first language, said Michael C. Anderson, professor of psychology.
Benjamin J. Levy, a UO doctoral student, was lead author of the study. Nathan D. McVeigh, an honors undergraduate student, and Alejandra Marful of the University of Salamanca in Spain, were co-authors.
The researchers drew their conclusions after conducting two experiments with about 100 English-speaking undergraduates who had completed at least one year of college-level Spanish. Less-fluent Spanish speakers showed clear phonological inhibition. They were 13 percent less likely to produce the English word if they had named a drawing in Spanish 10 times than if they had never named the drawing in Spanish.
“When you are trying to speak a second language, it is extraordinarily difficult to express concepts when you don’t know the words to best represent yourself,” Anderson said. “What you have to do is actively inhibit the native-language words to successfully recall second-language words, and that actually helps you speak more fluently.”
Levy and Anderson said the findings of their study have implications for the growing number of study-abroad programs offered at U.S. universities that immerse students in a new language.
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