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Chapter 7. Studying Receptive Grammar Acquisition within a PT Framework

A Methodological Exploration
  • Aafke Buyl
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Theoretical and Methodological Developments in Processability Theory
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Theoretical and Methodological Developments in Processability Theory

Abstract

This paper deals with the applicability of Processability Theory to receptive grammar acquisition. To date, PT has been defined and investigated as a theory of oral language production – based on the psycholinguistic mechanisms that form the basis of the theory. The receptive side of grammar acquisition has received scant attention – in spite of the relevance of such an undertaking for our understanding of (developmental stages in) L2 grammar acquisition. The present paper presents an exploratory study on the applicability of PT to receptive grammar acquisition. Given the relative novelty of this undertaking, considerable attention will be given to the theoretical and methodological issues that arise in exploring this direction in Processability research – in particular those that follow from the concepts of feature unification and emergence, which are central to PT. Subsequently, an exploratory study on the receptive acquisition of English morphology among adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) is conducted. For this study, a self-paced reading task was used to look at learners’ online receptive processing skills of (stage 2, category procedure) genitive -s and past tense -ed, (stage 3, phrasal agreement) plural -s agreement, (stage 4, VP agreement) have + past participle agreement and be + -ing form agreement, and (stage 5, S-procedure) subject-verb agreement 3SGs-s. The self-paced reading task compared learners’ reaction times when processing grammatical sentence segments to their reaction time when processing ungrammatical sentence segments. A significant delay in reaction time when processing ungrammatical items was considered evidence that learners were able to process the targeted morphological phenomenon. Group results and implicational scaling results of the self-paced reading task did not chime with PT. This would suggest that receptive and productive grammar acquisition are independent processes that are (partially) governed by different mechanisms and hence result in different developmental patterns. This conclusion, however, is only a tentative one at this stage. Some methodological issues that may have affected the data are discussed.

Abstract

This paper deals with the applicability of Processability Theory to receptive grammar acquisition. To date, PT has been defined and investigated as a theory of oral language production – based on the psycholinguistic mechanisms that form the basis of the theory. The receptive side of grammar acquisition has received scant attention – in spite of the relevance of such an undertaking for our understanding of (developmental stages in) L2 grammar acquisition. The present paper presents an exploratory study on the applicability of PT to receptive grammar acquisition. Given the relative novelty of this undertaking, considerable attention will be given to the theoretical and methodological issues that arise in exploring this direction in Processability research – in particular those that follow from the concepts of feature unification and emergence, which are central to PT. Subsequently, an exploratory study on the receptive acquisition of English morphology among adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) is conducted. For this study, a self-paced reading task was used to look at learners’ online receptive processing skills of (stage 2, category procedure) genitive -s and past tense -ed, (stage 3, phrasal agreement) plural -s agreement, (stage 4, VP agreement) have + past participle agreement and be + -ing form agreement, and (stage 5, S-procedure) subject-verb agreement 3SGs-s. The self-paced reading task compared learners’ reaction times when processing grammatical sentence segments to their reaction time when processing ungrammatical sentence segments. A significant delay in reaction time when processing ungrammatical items was considered evidence that learners were able to process the targeted morphological phenomenon. Group results and implicational scaling results of the self-paced reading task did not chime with PT. This would suggest that receptive and productive grammar acquisition are independent processes that are (partially) governed by different mechanisms and hence result in different developmental patterns. This conclusion, however, is only a tentative one at this stage. Some methodological issues that may have affected the data are discussed.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Chapter 1. Processability theory 1
  5. Interface between Morpho-Syntax and Discourse/Pragmatics/Semantics
  6. Chapter 2. Processing Alignments 21
  7. Chapter 3. The emergence of sentence Topic in a Topicprominent language 45
  8. Chapter 4. The Acquisition of the Ergative Case in Hindi as a Foreign Language 71
  9. Chapter 5. Response Paper 105
  10. Constraints on Processing and Receptive Processing
  11. Chapter 6. Constraints on Processing 115
  12. Chapter 7. Studying Receptive Grammar Acquisition within a PT Framework 139
  13. Chapter 8. Response Paper 169
  14. Developments in Instructed Second Language Learning
  15. Chapter 9. PT meets CA 177
  16. Chapter 10. Instructing Stages of Processability Theory in L2 Spanish 205
  17. Chapter 11. Implications of the Developmental Stages of Language Acquisition for Classroom Teaching 239
  18. Chapter 12. Response Paper 263
  19. Index 271
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.4.07buy

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Chapter 1. Processability theory 1
  5. Interface between Morpho-Syntax and Discourse/Pragmatics/Semantics
  6. Chapter 2. Processing Alignments 21
  7. Chapter 3. The emergence of sentence Topic in a Topicprominent language 45
  8. Chapter 4. The Acquisition of the Ergative Case in Hindi as a Foreign Language 71
  9. Chapter 5. Response Paper 105
  10. Constraints on Processing and Receptive Processing
  11. Chapter 6. Constraints on Processing 115
  12. Chapter 7. Studying Receptive Grammar Acquisition within a PT Framework 139
  13. Chapter 8. Response Paper 169
  14. Developments in Instructed Second Language Learning
  15. Chapter 9. PT meets CA 177
  16. Chapter 10. Instructing Stages of Processability Theory in L2 Spanish 205
  17. Chapter 11. Implications of the Developmental Stages of Language Acquisition for Classroom Teaching 239
  18. Chapter 12. Response Paper 263
  19. Index 271
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Heruntergeladen am 30.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/palart.4.07buy/html
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