Elicited Imitation Test Research Articles

The associations between individual differences in language aptitude and working memory, and the effectiveness of input and output based instruction

Despite previous research having demonstrated the comparative effects of processing instruction and output-based instruction, further investigation is required to examine the relationships between individual differences in cognitive abilities and these instructional types. This study investigated the associations among three instructional approaches and learners’ language aptitude and working memory in acquiring four Chinese classifiers. Eighty-six second language (L2) Chinese learners from one Chinese university were divided into three experimental groups – processing instruction (PI), meaning-based output instruction (MOI), combined instruction (CI) – and a control group. Tests measuring treatment effects included an untimed grammatical judgment test and an oral elicited imitation test. The LLAMA test and a counting span task were employed to assess learners’ language aptitude and working memory respectively. Multiple regression analysis suggested that phonetic coding ability was significantly predictive of the effects of PI and CI groups. Language analytic ability and working memory were not predictive of the effects of any experimental groups. The findings suggest that providing metalinguistic explanations followed by output-based language activities may mitigate learners’ cognitive differences in language analytic ability and working memory.

Validation of an elicited Imitation test as a measure of Korean language proficiency

This study presents a modified version of the Korean Elicited Imitation (EI) test, designed to resemble natural spoken language, and validates its reliability as a measure of proficiency. The study assesses the correlation between average test scores and Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) levels, examining score distributions among beginner, intermediate, and advanced learner groups. Using item response theory (IRT), the study explores the influence of four key facets—learners, items, raters, and constructs—on performance evaluation. An explanatory item response modeling (EIRM) analysis identified linguistic factors impacting the EI test’s performance. Notably, the study uncovered a robust positive correlation between EI test scores and TOPIK levels. Significant score disparities were observed between beginner and intermediate, as well as beginner and advanced, learner cohorts. An IRT-based exploration of each facet revealed that item difficulty was comparatively lower in contrast to learners’ commendable performance, and raters exhibited a high degree of scoring consistency. The EIRM analysis underscores the significance of variables such as the number of syllables, vocabulary score, and content word density in influencing test performance.

Predicting Elicited Imitation Performance from Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF) of L2 Oral Production

The Elicited Imitation Test (EIT) is a testing tool that has been used to measure the second language (L2) proficiency for L2 research. The EIT construct is, nevertheless, still not comprehensively investigated in EFL contexts. This study aims to contribute to this field by examining the extent to which complexity (indexed by lexical diversity, mean length of utterance), accuracy (percentage of error-free clauses) and fluency (breakdown, self-repair, speed) (CAF) can predict EIT performance in a Saudi context. A total of 66 learners were recruited to narrate picture stories. Multiple regression analysis was employed to answer the research questions. The findings show that speed fluency, filled pauses, and accuracy are key indicators of EIT performance. This implies that faster and more accurate L2 speech with fewer pauses is likely associated with a better EIT performance. Additionally, the data highlights the validity of EIT as an assessment instrument across various linguistic settings.

Explanatory item response models for instrument validation: A tutorial based on an elicited imitation test

This tutorial introduces explanatory item response models for the purpose of validating instruments used in applied linguistics research. These models can be used to investigate how theoretically important, construct-relevant characteristics of items influence the difficulty associated with successful responses, which constitutes valuable validity evidence. We focus on two item-explanatory models, the linear logistic test model for dichotomous responses and the linear rating scale model for ordinal responses, in the context of elicited imitation tests commonly used to measure oral proficiency in L2 research. Examples are provided using open data and the open-source statistical software R.

Exploring the potential of automated speech recognition for scoring the Korean Elicited Imitation Test

Elicited Imitation Tests (EITs) are often used as a practical tool for measuring L2 proficiency. In this study, we explore the potential of applying three commercial automated speech recognition (ASR) tools—Amazon, Google, and Naver—in combination with several transcription scoring metrics to automate Korean EIT scoring. Two hundred and four participants’ previously human-scored EITs (Isbell & Lee, 2022) were compared with automated EIT scores based on ASR transcriptions. Nearly all combinations of ASR platforms and transcription metrics correlated with original human EIT total scores above .90, with the Naver and Google transcriptions yielding the strongest correlations (r = .94-.96). Moreover, examining the item-level relationships between transcription metrics and original EIT scores yielded moderate-to-large correlations near .80 for the Google and Naver transcriptions, thereby providing additional support for the validity of automated EIT scoring. We conclude with implications for prospective users and developers of machine-scored EITs.

Building an elicited imitation task as a measure of implicit grammatical knowledge

Elicited imitation tests (EIT) are often used to measure the effects of a form?focused intervention on the development of L2 learners’ implicit grammatical knowledge, which is intuitive and retrieved without conscious awareness. This study investigated the relationship between an EIT focused on the English past tense and a set of other tests; it also examined whether the past-tense morpheme type, grammaticality of the verbs, their position in the stimulus utterances, and the explicitness of the test instructions influence learners’ imitation accuracy. Forty-four university-level students, all native speakers of Mandarin and enrolled in an English for academic purposes program in Canada, completed an EIT along with four other tests over two consecutive sessions. Results revealed that only the imitation of irregular verbs was significantly correlated with the other tests. In addition, the participants were more accurate in repeating the grammatical and correcting the ungrammatical regular verbs but neither the position of the verbs nor the type of instructions significantly influenced imitation. These findings suggest that several factors can influence learners’ performance and the knowledge that they draw upon during an EIT.

The relationships between individual differences in working memory and language analytical ability and the effectiveness of different types of corrective feedback

Abstract This study examined the relationships between individual differences in the executive component of working memory, and language analytical ability and the effectiveness of recasts, explicit correction and, metalinguistic prompts on the second-language (L2) development of the English past progressive. Participants were 155 Japanese learners of English, who were divided into recast, explicit correction, metalinguistic prompt, and task-only groups. The treatment groups completed tasks that required past progressive usage and received feedback. The executive component of working memory and language analytical ability were measured by the reading span test and LLAMA F. The outcome measures were an untimed grammaticality judgment test (UGJT) and elicited imitation test (EIT), which measured the participants’ declarative and procedural knowledge, respectively. The participants performed the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest. Multiple regression analyses showed that the executive component of working memory was significantly associated with the gain scores of the UGJT for the recast group and with the gain scores of the EIT for the metalinguistic prompt group. Language analytical ability was not associated with gain scores regardless of the test type for all groups.

Relationship Between Bilingual Verbal Working Memory and Language Dominance

The purpose of the study is to explore how language dominance impacts bilingual individuals verbal working memory. The study recruited 36 participants who are bilingual in both English and Chinese Mandarin age between 18 to 25 years old. In 90-minute experimental sessions, participants verbal working memory capacities both English and Chinese were measured by Following Instruction. And their language proficiencies in both English and Chinese were measured by Elicited Imitation Test. The result shows that Chinese dominant bilingual participants verbal working memory capacity were significantly impacted by their language dominance, but English bilingual participants verbal working memory capacity were not significantly impacted by their language dominance. Future research should consider to study whether Following Instructions is a reliable measure for bilingual populations verbal working memory.

Potential test-learning effects of an oral elicited imitation test: Methodological considerations for form-focused instruction studies

In this methodological study, 60 Japanese university students took an Oral Elicited Imitation Test (OEIT) three times over the course of three weeks to investigate the potential test-learning effect of the OEIT in relation to two moderating factors: the number of test items (more or fewer), and the types of grammatical features targeted in the test (syntactic or morphological). The study was conducted because a strong test-learning effect of the OEIT has been potentially problematic for the internal validity of previous form-focused instruction studies. Results revealed that engaging in the OEIT three times led to improvement in participants’ test performance from Time 1 to Times 2 and 3, on both the syntactic and morphological forms. Furthermore, conducting the OEIT with more test items had stronger test-learning effects than with fewer test items. A careful examination of the participants’ reconstructions in the tests indicated somewhat different tendencies between the syntactic and the morphological forms.

Explicit Instruction within a Task: Before, During, or After?

AbstractThis study addresses the effects of the timing of explicit instruction within the three phases of a task cycle (pretask, task, posttask) while considering learner’s previous knowledge. Eight intact groups (N = 165) of French L2 university-level students (4 B1- and 4 B2-level groups) completed two tasks. Groups were formed according to previous knowledge. Three groups received explicit instruction on the French subjunctive during the pretask, task, or posttask phase of each task. The control groups completed the task without prior instruction. Participants completed an elicited imitation test and a grammaticality judgment test as pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests. Results showed that explicit instruction embedded in a task facilitates the development of explicit and implicit knowledge and that the efficacy of instruction is not significantly influenced by the timing at which it is provided or by the learners’ level of previous knowledge.

Task-based language assessment: a compatible approach to assess the efficacy of task-based language teaching vs. present, practice, produce

Task-Based Language Teaching has been developed in response to the teacher-dominated, focus-on-forms methods such as Present, Practice, Produce (PPP). The body of literature is replete with studies examining the learning efficacy of the PPP approach versus TBLT; however, these studies did not use assessment tasks in comparing these two methods. To this end, the present study used an Assessment Task, a Grammaticality Judgment Test (GJT), and an Elicited Imitation Test (EIT) to compare the efficacy of PPP versus TBLT. Thirty-four lower-intermediate English language learners in Iran were randomly assigned to TBLT, PPP, and Control groups. The study results revealed that the performance of TBLT and PPP on the GJT and EIT significantly improved from pre-assessment to post-assessment, while the Control group did not show any significant improvements on any of the tests. Results indicated that only the TBLT group made substantial improvements in TBLA in the post-assessment, while the PPP and Control groups’ performance did not significantly improve.

An Exploratory Study of Strategy Use on Elicited Imitation Tasks

Elicited imitation (EI) has gained popularity with recent interests in the quest for efficient and flexible measures of second language (L2) proficiency. Despite the surge of interests, questions remain as to what specific linguistic knowledge, skills, and strategies EI measures. To contribute to this line of inquiry, this study explored the nature of strategy use and its effect on EI performance to elucidate the constructs of EI. Twenty-four L2 learners and eight native speakers of Chinese completed an EI test of Chinese and a strategy use questionnaire after the test. Qualitative analyses of the questionnaire responses revealed that participants mainly employed five types of strategies, including approach strategies, cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, communication strategies, and test-wiseness strategies. While native speakers reported the least number of strategies, higher-proficiency L2 learners reported more strategies than lower-proficiency L2 learners. We further subjected strategy use, along with participant proficiency level, item length, and item complexity level, to linear mixed-effects regression analyses. The results showed that participant proficiency level, item length, and item complexity level explained the largest test score variance; in contrast, strategy use of different types only accounted for a smaller proportion. The total number of cognitive strategies had a significant, positive effect on EI performance whereas the total number of metacognitive strategies had a significant, negative effect. These findings offer some insights into the nature of speech comprehension and production on EI and provide validity evidence for the use of EI as a language proficiency measure.

Explicit and implicit knowledge of English tenses of primary school EFL learners in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The linguistic knowledge of foreign language learners appears to be partly implicit and partly explicit. Learners rely on implicit knowledge when involved in spontaneous everyday com- munication, while explicit knowledge enables them to reflect on language structures and reco- gnise or use metalanguage. The present study investigated the explicit and implicit foreign language learners’ knowledge of English tenses in the Bosnian context at the end of the first educational cycle, i.e., primary school, by means of a metalinguistic test, an untimed gram- maticality judgement test and an elicited imitation test. The study aimed at exploring the var- iability in the quantity and quality of EFL learners’ knowledge and the relationship between different types of knowledge based on three factors, namely gender, average grade, and start- ing age. While revealing quite limited knowledge of the target structures, the findings showed no significant difference between explicit and implicit knowledge, while the correlation co- efficients between them were relatively high. Out of the three factors, a three-way ANOVA showed that only average grade proved to have a significant main effect on EFL knowledge. The interaction effect of gender and grade was significant on the participants’ overall EFL knowledge and their explicit knowledge, whereas a significant interaction effect of all three factors was confirmed only on explicit knowledge.

Developing and Validating Pragmatic Routine Elicited Imitation Test

Developing and Validating Pragmatic Routine Elicited Imitation Test

Effects of task repetition with written corrective feedback on the knowledge and written accuracy of learners with different prior knowledge of the structure

Abstract Previous task repetition studies have largely overlooked the second language learners’ development of linguistic knowledge as well as written accuracy. Furthermore, sufficient attention has not been paid to the role of written corrective feedback (WCF) in task repetition to reinforce attention to form. Moreover, studies exploring task repetition effects on learners with different prior knowledge of the target structure are rare. This study attempted to bridge these lacunas. Seventy-nine upper-intermediate learners in Iran were divided into four groups: task repetition with no feedback (TR), task repetition with metalinguistic feedback (TR+M), task repetition with direct feedback (TR+D), and task repetition with mixed direct metalinguistic feedback (TR+DM). All groups performed an error correction test that measured explicit knowledge, an elicited imitation test that tapped automatized explicit knowledge, and a picture-cued written production test that measured written accuracy. Participants performed a dictogloss task and received WCF before repeating the same task. Subsequently, they performed another dictogloss task with different content. Results revealed that the +Prior Knowledge learners in the TR+DM group gained explicit knowledge and proved slightly better than the TR+D regarding written accuracy. None of the groups, however, could develop automatized explicit knowledge.

The importance of increased processing demands in the design of Elicited Imitation tests

This study is a conceptual replication of Ellis’ ‘Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study’, published in Studies in Second Language Acquisition (2005), aiming to establish the importance of including belief statements (hypothesized to increase processing demands) in the design of Elicited Imitation (EI) tests. In a between-groups comparison, 103 participants completed one of two versions of Erlam’s EI test (2006), one which required participants to make a ‘belief’ judgement, and one which did not. Both contained ungrammatical stimuli. Participants were scored for repetition of grammatical stimuli and correction of ungrammatical stimuli. An Exit questionnaire aimed to establish how aware they were of ungrammatical stimuli. Participants also completed a timed grammaticality judgement test (TGJT), an untimed grammaticality judgement test (UGJT), a metalinguistic knowledge test (MKT), and another Elicited Imitation (EI) test designed as a measure of global proficiency. Performance on each EI version was examined in relationship to performance on these measures. There was no variation between performance on either EI test version. The article underscores the need for ongoing research investigating design features of EI tests.

The ERASMUS sojourn: does the destination country or pre-departure proficiency impact oral proficiency gains?

ABSTRACT This study examines the influence of pre-departure proficiency on English as a second language (L2) oral development after a semester studying abroad in two distinct learning contexts. The data analysed were collected from tertiary level students (N = 33) who undertook an ERASMUS exchange semester in a European country where English was either the official language (e.g. England) or used as a lingua franca in the university context (e.g. Germany). Each participant completed an oral elicited imitation test and a free oral response task pre-departure and on their return. The results of quantitative analyses indicate that the type of the study-abroad context had no significant impact on oral proficiency gains as all participants were found to perform significantly better on the elicited imitation test after the semester abroad. Despite strong to medium statistical correlations identified between pre-departure proficiency, and gains in oral fluency, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity, pre-departure oral proficiency was only found to significantly influence syntactic complexity development as pre-intermediate and upper-intermediate participants outperformed intermediate students in both contexts.

THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND THE EFFECTS OF THE TIMING OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK

AbstractThis study examines the associations between implicit and explicit language aptitude and the effects of the timing of corrective feedback (CF). A total of 112 seventh-grade EFL learners were assigned to three groups: Immediate CF, Delayed CF, and Task Only. The three groups underwent three treatment sessions during which they performed six focused communicative tasks eliciting the use of the English past tense. The Immediate and Delayed CF groups received CF treatments in the first and final sessions, respectively, and the Task Only group performed the communicative tasks without receiving any feedback. Treatment effects were measured through an untimed grammaticality judgment test and an elicited imitation test. Implicit language aptitude was operationalized as procedural memory and explicit language aptitude as working memory and declarative memory. Multiple regression analysis showed that procedural memory was significantly predictive of the effectiveness of Immediate CF, declarative memory was significantly associated with Delayed CF and Task Only, and working memory was a significant predictor of Immediate CF and Delayed CF. The results were interpreted by consulting the methodological features of the treatments and the mechanisms of the three cognitive abilities.

The effect of prompt accent on elicited imitation assessments in English as a second language

Elicited imitation (EI) assessments have been shown to discriminate well between speakers across proficiency levels, but little has been reported on the effect L2 accent has on test-takers’ ability to understand and process the test items they hear. Furthermore, no study has investigated the effect of accent on test-taker perceptions of EI tests. This study examined the relationships among accent, accent familiarity, EI test item difficulty and test scores. To investigate, self-reports of students’ exposure to different varieties of English were obtained from a pre-assessment survey. An EI test (63 items) was then administered in which English language learners (n = 213) in the United States listened to test items in three varieties of English: American English, Australian English, and British English. A Rasch analysis found that the test had high reliability (person separation = .94), with intended item level and accent both having a significant effect on test item difficulty. Survey results indicated a moderate relationship between an examinee’s familiarity with a particular accent and their person ability estimate measures. These findings suggest that prompt accent should be considered in EI test development.

Explicit instruction through task repetition: effects on explicit and implicit knowledge development

The present study explored the effect of task repetition with and without explicit instruction on EFL learners’ (n = 26) explicit and implicit English regular past tense structure development. One group (REP) repeated the same task (n = 12) while another group (EI + REP) received explicit instruction between performances of the same task (n = 14). The explicit and implicit knowledge was measured before the study began, after the main, repeated and procedural task performances, and after a two-week delay by means of an untimed grammaticality judgment test and an elicited oral imitation test respectively. The results indicated the role of explicit intervention in the EI + REP group’s both immediate and delayed explicit knowledge development, while the sole task repetition in the REP group developed a temporary attention to the target structure. Furthermore, the EI + REP condition led to implicit knowledge as elicited by an oral imitation test, but with a delay. Findings are discussed in light of the concepts of attention and processing capacity in second language acquisition.