Grammatical Proficiency Research Articles

Maturational Constraints on the Recruitment of Early Processes for Syntactic Processing

An enduring question in the study of second-language acquisition concerns the relative contributions of age of acquisition (AOA) and ultimate linguistic proficiency to neural organization for second-language processing. Several ERP and neuroimaging studies of second-language learners have found that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in second-language acquisition. However, such delays in second-language acquisition are typically associated with lower language proficiency, rendering it difficult to assess whether differences in AOA or proficiency lead to these effects. Here we examined the effects of delayed second-language acquisition while controlling for proficiency differences by examining participants who differ in AOA but who were matched for proficiency in the same language. We compared the ERP response to auditory English phrase structure violations in a group of late learners of English matched for grammatical proficiency with a group of English native speakers. In the native speaker group, violations elicited a bilateral and prolonged anterior negativity, with onset at 100 msec, followed by a posterior positivity (P600). In contrast, in the nonnative speaker group, violations did not elicit the early anterior negativity, but did elicit a P600 which was more widespread spatially and temporally than that of the native speaker group. These results suggest that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in language acquisition independently of proficiency level. More specifically, they suggest that both early and later syntactic processes are sensitive to maturational constraints. These results also suggest that late learners who reach a high level of second-language proficiency rely on different neural mechanisms than native speakers of that language.

Nature of L2 Grammatical Proficiency: A Multi-Dimensional Approach

This is a study with descriptive hypothesis-testing design investigating the true nature of L2 grammatical proficiency by focusing on its component parts. It examines the performance of 60 female EFL learners between 19 and 30 years of age at 2 levels of proficiency using 2 types of computerized Grammaticality Judgement tasks in different orders (i.e. Written Stimulus GJ task and Oral Stimulus GJ task) for each participant at a 1 week interval for 2 weeks per each task to determine the extent to which L2 learners' performance is affected by a few components of grammatical proficiency chosen and manipulated out of a great many that exist (i.e. written-oral dichotomy [viz. modality]) as well as language proficiency while focusing on Subjacency. Participants rendered GJ tasks on a 2-point interval. Results from analyzing the elicited measurement data indicated that the performance scores of the two proficiency groups in the two Grammaticality Judgement tasks did not differ significantly.

Nature of L2 Grammatical Proficiency: A Multi-Dimensional Approach

This is a study with descriptive hypothesis-testing design investigating the true nature of L2 grammatical proficiency via focusing on its component parts. It examines the performance of 60 female EFL learners between 19 and 30 years of age at 2 proficiency levels using 2 types of computerized Grammaticality Judgement tasks in different orders (i.e. Explicit Written Task and Implicit Written Task) for each participant at a 1 week interval for 2 weeks per each task to determine the extent to which L2 learners' performances are affected by a few components of grammatical proficiency chosen and manipulated out of many others that exist (i.e. Implicit Knowledge, and Explicit knowledge) as well as language proficiency while focusing on subjacency. Participants rendered GJ tasks on a 2-point interval. Results from analyzing the elicited measurement data indicate that the performance scores of the two proficiency groups in the two Grammaticality Judgement tasks did not differ significantly.

Explicit teaching of grammar and improvement in the grammar of student writing

This article focuses on the question of whether formal teaching of grammatical constructions results in a change in ESL students. written use of these constructions. It also tests the assumption that given a large amount of comprehensible input in academic English, ESL students will automatically acquire this variety including its grammatical features. The writing produced by BSc first year L2 students enrolled in an ESL course forms the data of the study. Four sets of data were collected: exam essays written in June and November of 1999 when formal grammatical instruction was not part of the course, and exam essays written in June and November of 2000 when grammatical instruction was introduced into the course. Matched t-tests indicate that in neither 1999 nor 2000 did students. grammatical proficiency improve. The implication of this is that in the context of the study grammatical improvement was not observed either as a result of formal teaching or as a result of extensive communication in the language. The article speculates that this may be a result of students' targeting a non-standard variety of English: BSAE.

Investigating grammatical difficulty in second language learning: Implications for second language acquisition research and language testing

Both second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and language testers collect data in order to make statements about what learners have learned. Many researchers and testers consider the ideal data for this purpose to be naturally occurring language use. This paper examines whether data elicited by instruments designed to provide separate measures of implicit and explicit second language knowledge afford a valid basis for determining what learners have learned. It reports on a study that tested predictions derived from Pienemann's Processability Theory regarding the learning difficulty of four grammatical structures. The results showed that the predictions were borne out in the data from the tests of implicit knowledge but not in the data from the tests of explicit knowledge. The study suggests that experimentally elicited data can be used to examine interlanguage development (i.e. how learners’ implicit knowledge develops) and to make statements about learners’ grammatical proficiency. It also indicates that what constitutes learning difficulty needs to be considered separately for implicit and explicit knowledge. The implications for SLA research and language testing are considered.1

Grammar and pragmatics

This paper compares grammatical and pragmatic development in foreign language learners of Swedish. For the analysis of grammatical proficiency, data from translation tasks and essays were tested against the stage model proposed in Processability Theory, which identifies five stages of morpho-syntactic development for Swedish (Pienemann 1998, Pienemann and Håkansson 1999). For the pragmatic analysis a gap-fill task was used, inspired by the discourse completion task (Blum-Kulka 1982, Kasper and Roever 2005), but taking into consideration sequential aspects of the interaction. All tasks were piloted with a control group of Swedish native speakers. The results indicate a relationship between native-like pragmatic command and a high level of morpho-syntactic processability. The findings suggest that students whose grammatical processing capacity is restricted to lower levels find it difficult to contextualise their utterances in a pragmatically appropriate way.

Read the Book or Watch the Movie? "Der Richter und sein Henker" at the Intermediate Level

Visualization has become a key concept in foreign language pedagogy and is a lightning rod within professional debates on how best to teach language. Where some teachers emphasize the rewards that well-placed visuals yield, other wellfounded arguments decry the displacement of the written word with what is often perceived to be the less substantive image. A film adaptation of a literary work only raises the stakes and its value as a primary course text is likely to meet with polarizing response. This debate has practical ramifications for language learners at the intermediate level, for this is the level at which students' needs are most varied and for which appropriate materials are consequently most scarce. If teachers agree that secondyear students should increase their active vocabulary, hone grammatical proficiency, and expand their critical thinking skills, there is widespread disagreement on the texts or media that best enable such progress. I would like to reframe this debate. Instead of simply favoring the written word over the image, I shall suggest strategies for using the best-and even the worst-of each to their fullest extent.1 My insights center on the combined use of a beloved, much-read literary text, Friedrich Durrenmatt's Der Richter und sein Henker (1956)2 together with a little-known, and in my opinion, vastly inferior adaptation,3 Maximilian Schell's eponymous film of 1976. Such an admittedly uneven combination is bound to raise questions, so allow me to acknowledge my biases here with a brief description of each work. Dorrenmatt's detective novel intertwines within a dramatic investigation of crime and character an engaging debate on good vs. evil and the nature of chance. As younger men, Barlach and Gastmann had taken opposing sides on a wager that the perfect crime could or could not be committed. Gastmann killed a man before Barlach's eyes and challenged him to prove his guilt. Despite being a witness to the crime, Barlach is unable to prove to the authorities that Gastmann was responsible for the man's death, a fact that has haunted him throughout his professional life and bound him to Gastmann in pursuit of justice. The reader meets Barlach as an older man, sick with cancer, as he investigates another murder, that of his young colleague, Schmied, killed during an undercover investigation. Together with a new partner, Tschanz, Birlach encounters Gastmann once again and uses his knowledge of human nature

A Study of Consciousness‐Raising by Computer: The Effect of Metalinguistic Feedback on Second Language Learning

ABSTRACT The computer can serve as a consciousness‐raiser by highlighting and correcting students' errors and giving explanatory feedback. In the past, computer feedback was limited to simple error messages that did not tell the learner much more than that he or she was wrong and should try again. Natural language processing, however, allows the computer to actually parse student responses grammatically and to provide feedback that is more detailed and informative than was formerly possible. The study investigates the effectiveness of two types of computer feedback: one is traditional computer feedback that indicates only missing or unexpected words in the learner's response, and the other is intelligent computer feedback that provides further information about the nature of the errors in the form of metalinguistic rules. The study found that intelligent computer feedback is more effective than traditional computer feedback for improving the learners' grammatical proficiency in the use of complex structures of the target language. The study supports the value of metalinguistic instruction by computer.

Learners' Transfer of Writing Skills Between Languages

One hundred, twenty-six secondary school EFL students took part in this study, which examines learners' transfer of essay organization skills between languages. Students were divided into three groups: (a) one receiving L1 essay writing instruction; (b) another receiving equivalent L2 (English) instruction; and (c) a comparison group receiving no such instruction. This article analyses students' pre- and post-test essay organization and grammatical proficiency scores. It concludes that many learners transfer writing skills between languages, and that their success in doing so is assisted by their grammatical proficiency in the target language.

The implications of cognitive models in L1 and L2 writing

Research has suggested that metacognition is composed of three general dimensions: knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition, and the use of compensatory strategies when cognition fails. The first dimension, knowledge of cognition, can be further divided into three types: personal, task, and strategy variables. Knowledge of these variables is highly interactive in successful task performance, and taken together they constitute an individual's cognitive model of a cognitive task. Although research has investigated the role of metacognition, particularly the impact of cognitive models, in first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading performance, to date there has been little research in writing—L1 or L2—about the role of metacognition generally or the impact of cognitive models on task performance more specifically. The current study reports on the role of cognitive models in L1 and L2 writing. Twenty first-year college students—10 L1basic writers and 10 L2 writers from various language backgrounds—were surveyed to elicit information concerning their notions about personal, task, and strategy variables in writing. Based on their responses, writers were determined to possess various cognitive models of writing. Subjects' writing samples were evaluated holistically; further evaluation determined compositional and grammatical proficiency. Analysis reveals that L1 basic and L2 writers hold different cognitive models and perform differently on writing tasks, suggesting that cognitive models have important implications for writing task performance.

Do Good Grammar Skills Predict Success in a Business-Communication Course?

After reviewing the controversy over inclusion of grammatical instruction in composition and communication courses, this article details a data-based study that explored the relationship between grammatical proficiency and a number of variables in an introductory business-communication course. Em pirical data suggest a small, but significant correlation between grammatical proficiency and success in writing the formal report. The data suggest that a stronger correlation exists between grammatical proficiency and perform ance in the overall course, and that grammatical competency is a predictor of successful completion of the course. The article explores other minor correla tions, suggests the implications these correlations have for business- communication courses, and recommends other areas of study