JOLs and d-prime across conditions.

Nowadays, use of a second language (L2) has taken a central role in daily activities. There are numerous contexts in which people have to process information, acquire new knowledge, or make decisions via a second language. For example, in academia and higher education, English is commonly used as the language of instruction and communication even though English might not be students’ native or first language (L1) and they might not be proficient in it. Such students may face different challenges when studying and learning in L2 relative to contexts in which they study and learn in their L1, and this may affect their metamemory strategies. However, little is yet known about whether metamemory processes undergo significant changes when learning is carried out in L2. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible consequences on learning derived from studying materials in L2 and, more specifically, to explore whether the interplay between monitoring and control (metamemory processes) changes as a function of the language involved. In three experiments, we explored whether font type (Experiment 1), concreteness (Experiment 2), and relatedness (Experiment 3) affected judgments of learning (JOLs) and memory performance in both L1 and L2. JOLs are considered the result of metacognitive strategies involved in the monitoring of learning and have been reported to vary with the difficulty of the material. The results of this study showed that people were able to monitor their learning in both L1 and L2, even though they judged L2 learning as more difficult than L1. Interestingly, self-perceived difficulty did not hinder learning, and people recognized L2 materials as well or better than L1 materials. We suggest that this might be an example of a desirable difficulty for memory.

现如今，第二语言（L2）的使用在日常活动中已占据核心地位。诸多场景下，人们不得不通过第二语言处理信息、获取新知或做出决策。例如在学术与高等教育领域，即便英语并非学生的母语或第一语言（L1），且他们可能并未熟练掌握该语言，英语仍常被用作教学与交流的通用语言。相较于以母语开展学习的场景，这类学生在以第二语言进行学习时可能面临不同挑战，这或许会影响其元记忆（metamemory）策略。然而，目前学界对当学习以第二语言进行时，元记忆过程是否会发生显著变化仍知之甚少。本研究旨在探究以第二语言学习材料可能对学习产生的影响，更具体地说，是探讨监控与控制的交互作用（即元记忆过程）是否会因所使用语言的不同而发生改变。在三项实验中，我们探究了字体类型（实验1）、具体性（实验2）与关联性（实验3）是否会对第一语言与第二语言环境下的学习判断（judgments of learning, JOLs）及记忆表现产生影响。学习判断被视为学习监控相关元认知策略的产物，据报道其会随材料难度的变化而波动。本研究结果显示，尽管人们认为第二语言学习比母语学习更具难度，但他们仍能在母语与第二语言两种环境下监控自身的学习进程。值得注意的是，自我感知的学习难度并未阻碍学习，且人们对第二语言材料的记忆效果不亚于甚至优于母语材料。我们推测，这或许可被视为记忆领域中一种合意难度的典型案例。