Eye tracking in Second Language Acquisition – an introduction Seminar

The recording of eye movements, or eye tracking, has become an important tool for language researchers to probe real-time cognitive processes in first and second language speakers. Researchers turn to eye tracking for its millisecond precise temporal information and its high spatial resolution. As an exquisitely versatile tool, eye tracking has many applications across SLA disciplines and inspires new work, as well as new takes on old questions each year (see Godfroid, 2019, 2020; Godfroid & Hui, 2020; Godfroid, Winke, & Conklin, 2020, for reviews).

When participants engage in a language task, their eye gaze may provide a measure of their attentional allocation and linguistic processing (Godfroid, Boers & Housen, 2013; Just & Carpenter, 1980; Reichle, Pollatsek, & Rayner, 2006; Smith, 2012). With the help of recent research studies, I will illustrate how this information can be exploited in research on controlled versus automatic processing (Maie & Godfroid, in press), incidental vocabulary acquisition (Godfroid et al., 2013, 2019), and attention to form versus meaning (Lee, Son, & Godfroid, 2021). 

Overall, this talk will provide a gentle introduction to eye-tracking methodology paired with an update about recent work from the Second Language Studies Eye Tracking Lab.  I will render the depth and breadth of eye-tracking research in SLA, highlighting how the unique affordances of eye-movement registration have opened up, and continue to open up, new avenues for research in the field.