Abstract
AbstractThis study investigated whether adult learners could eventually achieve nativelike proficiency in L2 inflectional morphology that is not instantiated in their L1 with the increase of L2 proficiency. The participants were 47 L1‐Chinese of L2‐English speakers. They were divided into three groups according to their levels of English proficiency, and their morphological performance in L2‐English plurals was individually tested with a self‐paced word‐by‐word reading task and an oral interview. According to the results: (1) all the three groups showed a reliable degree of sensitivity to English plurals; although L2 proficiency was non‐significant in their overall performance, the advanced participants displayed a more similar pattern of performance to the native English speakers as compared to the less‐advanced ones; and (2) the participants’ production accuracy increased with the increase in English proficiency. Overall, the findings suggested that adult L2 learners could eventually acquire L2 morphology with the increase of L2 proficiency.
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