Timed Grammaticality Judgment, Oral Elicited Imitation, and Metalinguistic Knowledge Test Battery

Abstract Although claims about the nature of EFL/ESL learners’ knowledge (i. e., implicit and/or explicit) are essential to many debates in foreign/second language development, few studies have sought to evaluate the effects of linguistic and/or contextual variables on the two knowledge types. This study, accordingly, undertook to examine the effects of different explicit and implicit types of form-focused instruction (FFI) on the acquisition of four easy and difficult forms as assessed by different implicit and explicit outcome measures. The instruments utilized to assess students’ learning were: oral elicited imitation, untimed and timed grammaticality judgment, and metalinguistic knowledge tests. A pretest and two posttests were administered to 150 novice learners immediately after FFI and again after a 4-week delay. Immediate and durable effects of FFI were found for the easy and difficult target forms on both implicit and explicit knowledge measures. Specifically, the study indicated that explicit and implicit types of FFI were significantly more beneficial for explicitly-easy and implicitly-easy language forms respectively. The findings of this study may contribute a different set of insights to our understanding of the efficacy of varying types of FFI on learners’ controlled and/or spontaneous use of easy and difficult structures at early stages of L2 development.

EXPLORING SYNTACTIC PRIMING AS A MEASURE OF IMPLICIT LANGUAGE APTITUDE

10.1017/s0272263120000698 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-32

Author(s):

Shaofeng Li ◽

Jiancheng Qian

Keyword(s):

Construct Validity ◽

Sequence Learning ◽

Convergent Validity ◽

The Other ◽

Syntactic Priming ◽

L2 Proficiency ◽

Language Aptitude ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Abstract This study investigates the validity of syntactic priming as a measure of implicit language aptitude. Syntactic priming refers to the tendency to reproduce a linguistic structure due to a previous exposure to the structure. The validity of the construct was verified by collating evidence for divergent validity—whether it is dissociable from explicit aptitude; convergent validity—whether it is correlated with other measures of implicit aptitude; and predictive validity—whether it is predictive of learning attainment. One hundred sixty-six university EFL learners completed three tests of implicit aptitude: syntactic priming, sequence learning, and LLAMA_D; three tests of explicit aptitude: LLAMA_B, _E, and _F; and three tests of L2 proficiency: untimed grammaticality judgment, metalinguistic knowledge, and elicited imitation. The results showed that syntactic priming was dissociable from explicit aptitude, but it failed to converge with the other measures of implicit aptitude, and it also failed to predict L2 proficiency. The results also showed that priming was negatively correlated with sequence learning and that sequence learning was a negative predictor of learners’ metalinguistic knowledge. On the other hand, the construct validity of explicit aptitude was strong. The results suggest the multidimensionality of implicit aptitude and the need for more research into the construct validity of syntactic priming as a cognitive ability for implicit learning.

The Metalinguistic and Linguistic Knowledge Tests and Their Relationship between Non-native In-service and Pre-service Teachers

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.6p.246 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 246

Author(s):

Saeideh Ahangari ◽

Morteza Abdi

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Test ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Second Language Teachers ◽

Native Teachers ◽

English Language Institute ◽

Fairly recently, the construct of metalinguistic knowledge and its relation to L2 learners’ language proficiency have been the focus of numerous theoreticians, researchers, and the educators in the field. With respect to second language teachers assessment, however, little attempt has been made to explore the metalinguistic knowledge and its relationship between serving and non-serving teachers. The current study, accordingly, was designed to investigate whether there is a relationship between non-native in-service and pre-service teachers performing the metalinguistic and linguistic knowledge tests and if there is a difference between the two groups of teachers’ performance on these two tests. To collect the data on the two constructs of linguistic and metalinguistic knowledge, 80 non-native teachers performed on the Cloze Test and untimed Grammaticality Judgment Test from an English language institute. Following a range of statistical analyses, the findings revealed no positive correlation between the Linguistic and Metalinguistic tests both in the in-service and pre-service teachers of English language. It was also found that the two groups of teachers did not differ significantly with respect to their performance on the Linguistic test while the in-service teachers outperformed their counterpart in the Metalinguistic knowledge test.

Fixed-choice word-association tasks as second-language lexical tests: What native-speaker performance reveals about their potential weaknesses

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s014271641200029x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 193-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

VEDRAN DRONJIC ◽

RENA HELMS-PARK

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Word Association ◽

Native Speaker ◽

Test Validity ◽

Age Groups ◽

Vocabulary Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Test ◽

Lower Accuracy ◽

ABSTRACTQian and Schedl's Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test was administered to 31 native-speaker undergraduates under an “unconstrained” condition, in which the number of responses to headwords was unfixed, whereas a corresponding group (n = 36) completed the test under the original “constrained” condition. Results revealed lower accuracy in the unconstrained condition and in paradigmatic versus syntagmatic responses. Native speakers failed to reach the 90% criterion on most unconstrained and many constrained items. Although certain modifications could improve such a test (e.g., eliminating psycholinguistically anomalous headwords, such as adjectives, or presenting responses to headwords discontinuously), two intransigent problems impede test validity. First, collocates in the mental lexicon differ in tightness and vary across dialects, sociolects, and age groups. Second, it is more serious that second-language Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Tests are likely spot checks of metalinguistic knowledge rather than depth tests that reflect what learners would actually produce in spontaneous utterances.

Metalinguistic Knowledge Test

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t58153-000 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Yuichi Suzuki ◽

Robert DeKeyser

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Test ◽

THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH

10.1017/s0272263119000184 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (04) ◽

pp. 695-719 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Julio Torres ◽

Ricardo Estremera ◽

Sherez Mohamed

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Willingness To Communicate ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Heritage Language Learners ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Specific Contribution

AbstractIndividual differences (IDs) largely contribute to success in adult second language attainment (e.g., Dörnyei, 2006). Heritage language (HL) studies have also explored the role of IDs, namely psychosocial variables, and biographical factors with an adult HL learner population. However, the specific contribution of these variables to HL learners' performance on linguistic tests that differ in degree of explicitness and modality remains unknown. Therefore, the current study tested 103 adult HL learners of Spanish who completed a spoken elicited imitation task (EIT) and a written untimed grammaticality judgment task (UGJT) that elicited their knowledge of vulnerable morphosyntactic structures in HL bilingual acquisition. To investigate the contribution of individual learner factors on their performance, participants completed a few questionnaires. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that sequential bilingual status, willingness to communicate, generation and motivation contributed significantly, but yet differentially to participants' performance on grammatical and ungrammatical items of the EIT and UGJT.

MEASURES OF IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE REVISITED

10.1017/s0272263115000510 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

pp. 431-457 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Jeong-eun Kim ◽

Hosung Nam

Keyword(s):

Construct Validity ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Implicit Knowledge ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Factor Analyses ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Different Types

Timed grammaticality judgment tests (TGJT) and oral elicited imitation tests (OEIT) are considered reliable and valid measures of implicit linguistic knowledge, but studies consistently observe better performances on the TGJT than the OEIT due to the different types of processing they require: comprehension for the TGJT and production for the OEIT. This study examines whether degree of access to implicit knowledge is a function of processing type. Results from a series of factor analyses suggest that the OEIT requires greater access to implicit knowledge—implying that it measures stronger implicit knowledge—than the TGJT. Furthermore, the study examines effects on construct validity of time pressure in the OEIT (uncontrolled vs. controlled) and modality in the TGJT (written vs. aural). The results indicate that the tests reached higher construct validity, or measuredstrongerimplicit knowledge, when the OEIT employed controlled time pressure and the TGJT used aural stimuli.

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

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/13621688211026032 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136216882110260

Author(s):

Rosemary Erlam ◽

Lan Wei

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Explicit Knowledge ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Processing Demands ◽

Test Version ◽

Implicit And Explicit ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge ◽

Belief Statements

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

10.1017/s0272263121000012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-25

Author(s):

Mengxia Fu ◽

Shaofeng Li

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Declarative Memory ◽

Corrective Feedback ◽

Procedural Memory ◽

Language Aptitude ◽

Elicited Imitation ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Implicit And Explicit ◽

And Task

Abstract This 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.

Investigating the Relationship between Metalinguistic Knowledge and L2 writing among Intermediate-level adult Turkish EFL Learners

Issues in Language Studies ◽

10.33736/ils.1246.2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 52-73

Author(s):

FATMA AYDIN

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

L2 Writing ◽

Intermediate Level ◽

Placement Test ◽

Moderate Correlation ◽

Grammar Rule ◽

Knowledge Test ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge ◽

The Relationship

The present study investigates the nature of metalinguistic knowledge among intermediate-level adult Turkish EFL learners, and the relationship between their metalinguistic knowledge and L2 writing in terms of complexity, accuracy and fluency. The participants of the present study are a total of 78 intermediate-level adult Turkish EFL learners. The data collection instruments of the present study include Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), Productive Metalinguistic Knowledge Test (PMKT), Receptive Metalinguistic Knowledge Test (RMKT) (adapted from Ellis, 2009) and opinion essays of a smaller group of the participants. The results revealed that intermediate-level adult Turkish EFL learners have moderate to high productive and metalinguistic knowledge. They are better at explaining why a L2 sentence is grammatically incorrect than referring to the exact grammar rule and using technical words for the grammatical features. The results also revealed that there is significant moderate correlation between metalinguistic knowledge and writing accuracy.