Abstract
The current study presents the results of a treatment that sought to improve the 3rd person singular -s of the present simple tense. Sixty-four EFL learners from three different primary schools participated in the experiment. Learners were divided into a control group and two experimental groups. Whereas the control group followed its own school instruction, the two experimental groups followed a treatment that was based on neuroscience and psychology and that integrated innovative pedagogical techniques (©2018, 2019, Verónica Mendoza Fernández): sensorimotor drilling, the structuration of linguistic input on the basis of processing demands and sensory chunking. Learners carried out four pretest-postest tasks. Here are presented the results of one of the tasks: oral sentence transformation. The findings of the study indicated that statistical significance was reached by the two experimental groups only. 
 
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Highlights
The literature on the acquisition of English as a foreign language (EFL) portrays the thirdperson singular –s of the present simple tense as a linguistic feature that is difficult to acquire and cannot be mastered even at advanced levels of instruction (Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003; García-Mayo & Villarreal-Olaizola, 2011; Lázaro Ibarrola & García Mayo, 2012; Martínez-Adrián, Gallardo del Puerto & Gutiérrez-Mangado, 2013; Martínez-Adrián & Gutierrez-Mangado, 2015).Copyright © The Author(s)
Group 2 increased the percentage of retrieval and use of the -s of the present simple tense in the postest (Z=-2.756, p=0.006; dCohen=2.626, which showed a large magnitude of effect sizes)
The aim of this paper was to present the results of a treatment that was applied to the -s of the present simple tense
Summary
The literature on the acquisition of English as a foreign language (EFL) portrays the thirdperson singular –s of the present simple tense as a linguistic feature that is difficult to acquire and cannot be mastered even at advanced levels of instruction (Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003; García-Mayo & Villarreal-Olaizola, 2011; Lázaro Ibarrola & García Mayo, 2012; Martínez-Adrián, Gallardo del Puerto & Gutiérrez-Mangado, 2013; Martínez-Adrián & Gutierrez-Mangado, 2015).Copyright © The Author(s). Verónica Mendoza Fernández TOWARDS THE AUTOMATISATION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: SENSORIMOTOR DRILLING, THE STRUCTURATION OF LINGUISTIC INPUT ON THE BASIS OF PROCESSING DEMANDS AND SENSORY CHUNKING participants were divided into a control group and two experimental groups. Whereas the control group followed its own school instruction, the two experimental groups followed a treatment that was designed to facilitate the retention (acquisition, learning) and strengthening of the 3rd person singular -s and, improve its retrieval (accessibility) and use (expression, production). By ‘automatisation’, the author of the manuscript refers to the process encompassing the retention (acquisition, learning), strengthening (overlearning) and retrieval of (access to) linguistic memories for their automatic organisation and expression −that is, for their effortless, accurate, fast planning and production− in response to particular contexts. The treatment was characterised by the integration of innovative pedagogical techniques: sensorimotor drilling, the structuration of linguistic input on the basis of processing demands and sensory chunking
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