Elicited Imitation in Second Language Learners

Abstract

Three groups of subjects were tested in an elicited imitation study. These were 8-year-old, 11-year-old and adult native speakers of Arabic who were learning English as a second language. The subjects were asked to repeat sentences of seven different grammatical structure types. Previous research with 4-year-old native speakers of English (Smith, 1973) has found that three of the structures were easy to repeat (Type A structures) while four were difficult to repeat (Type B structures). In the present study, a similar difference in the repeatability of A and B structures was found for the youngest subjects, but there was no such difference for the adults and only a moderate difference for the intermediate group. The pattern of results suggested that this was not a function of differences in the subjects' English-language backgrounds, but represents a developmental difference in the ability of second language learners to repeat certain grammatical structures. The theoretical reasons for the variability in repetition difficulty for the different structure types were considered.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cherry, C. ( 1966). On Human Communication. (Cambridge , Mass.).

Dooling, D.J. ( 1974). Rhythm and syntax in sentence perception. J. verb. Learn. verb. Behav., 13, 255.

Dulay, H.C. and Burt, M.K. ( 1972). Goofing: an indicator of children's second language learning strategies. Language Learning, 22, 235.

Klima, E.S. and Bellugi, U. ( 1973). Syntactic regularities in the speech of children . In C. Ferguson and D. Slobin (eds.), Studies of Child Language Development . (New York), 333.

Krashen, S.D. ( 1973). Lateralization, language learning and the critical period: some new evidence. Language Learning, 23, 63.

Lenneberg, E. ( 1967). Biological Foundations of Language, ( New York).

Miller, W. and Ervin-Tripp, S. ( 1973). The development of grammar in child language. In C. Ferguson and D. Slobin (eds.), Studies of Child Language Development , (New York), 355.

Naiman, N. ( 1974). The use of elicited imitation in second language acquisition research. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 2, 1.

Savin, H. and Perchonock, E. ( 1965). Grammatical structure and the immediate recall of English sentences. J. verb. Learn. verb. Behav., 4, 348.

10.

Scott, M.S. and Tucker, G.R. ( 1974). Error analysis and English language strategies of Arab students. Language Learning, 24, 69.

11.

Slobin, D.I. and Welsh, C.A. ( 1973). Elicited imitation as a research tool in developmental psycholinguistics. In C. Ferguson and D. Slobin (eds.), Studies of Child Language Development. (New York), 485.

12.

Smith, C. ( 1970). Children's control of some complex noun phrases: a repetition study. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Linguistics Association, New York .

13.

Smith, C. ( 1973). An experimental approach to children's linguistic competence . In C. Ferguson and D. Slobin (eds.), Studies of Child Language Development, (New York), 497.

14.

Swain, M. , Dumas, G. and Naiman, N. ( 1973). Alternatives to spontaneous speech: elicited translation and imitation as indicators of second language competence. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 3, 68.