The automatization of verbal morphology in instructed second language acquisition

Abstract

According to information-processing accounts of skill acquisition, learner performance becomes more automatic over time and with practice, requiring less attention, time, and cognitive effort (DeKeyser, Skill acquisition theory, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007a). This study set out to provide converging evidence for the development of automatization of verbal morphology in comprehension and production. Eighty-five university-level L2 learners of Italian were assigned to one of three proficiency levels and completed a picture identification task and a picture description task. Reaction times (RT), error rates, and coefficients of variation (CV) were analyzed. Results overall revealed that there was evidence of increasing automatization of verbal morphology with increasing proficiency. However, differences were found between comprehension and production, and depending on the measure used. Findings are discussed in the context of SLA automaticity and implications for classroom learning. The study contributes to the continuing efforts to define and measure automaticity, and lends support to the suggestion that converging evidence is needed for automaticity and automatization to be useful constructs in SLA.