The Validity of Grammaticality Judgment Task on Saudi EFL Learners

Sami Alanazi

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.6p.78

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the validity of the controversial data-gathering tool Grammaticality Judgment Task on measuring the grammatical competency of Saudi EFL learners. Despite the widespread use of GJT in SLA research, it is surrounded by a great deal of criticism. The present paper is part of a larger study investigating the acquisition of past verb forms by Saudi EFL learners. Thirty-six Saudi EFL learners took part in the study and were divided into three groups as follows: guided-planning group, semi-guided planning group, and control group. The task used in the study consisted of twenty test items: 10 control test items, and 10 experimental test items. The results did not reveal significant statistical differences between the three groups. Also, the results did not reflect the actual grammatical competency of the participants.

Highlights

Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) is a widely used tool by researchers in the area of Second Language Acquisition SLA
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between groups was conducted to compare the results from Grammaticality Judgment Task 1 (GJT 1)
The null hypothesis of meeting the assumption is true as no significant results emerged between the three groups from the Grammaticality Judgment Task 1 (GJT1)

Summary

Introduction

Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) is a widely used tool by researchers in the area of Second Language Acquisition SLA. GJT can be influenced by extra grammatical factors, the link between metalinguistic judgments and grammatical knowledge is not clear, and there is a lack of control techniques (Tremblay, 2005). Another concern about the validity of GJT is that learners may base their judgment on extraneous factors, such as sentence complexity or semantic irregularity (Ellis, 1991). Following the reviews of Chaudron (1983) and R. Ellis (1991a) of GJT studies, several supplementary researches have been done

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