Abstract/Summary

The role that working memory may play in explaining potential differences between native and non-native sentence processing has been increasingly debated. In this chapter, I discuss how the conceptualisation of working memory is crucial to our understanding of its role in second language processing. In particular, I compare capacity-based approaches that focus on working memory resources and interference-based approaches that focus on memory encoding and retrieval. After reviewing evidence for both approaches to working memory, I argue that interference-based accounts provide a promising approach for examining the role of working memory in second language processing. Although I focus on non-native sentence processing, I also touch on related issues in second language acquisition.