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Foreign Language Retention and Attrition: A Study of Regression Models
Author(s) -
Hedgcock John
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1991.tb00440.x
Subject(s) - attrition , reinterpretation , foreign language , psychology , scale (ratio) , linguistics , regression analysis , cognition , mathematics education , cognitive psychology , computer science , machine learning , medicine , philosophy , physics , dentistry , quantum mechanics , acoustics , neuroscience
This article discusses current perspectives on foreign language loss and offers a reinterpretation of regressionist theories of attrition in which last‐presented FL material is predicted to deteriorate first. Before reporting the results of a small‐scale study of the retention and loss of Spanish among college undergraduates, the author describes a processing model of FL maintenance which holds that FL material having cognitive associations is most likely to be retained. Results of the investigation, which provide evidence for a processing view, are then discussed with respect to developing a more widely‐based research paradigm.