TY - JOUR
T1 - The Roles of Explicit Information and Grammatical Sensitivity in Processing Instruction
T2 - Nominative-Accusative Case Marking and Word Order in German L2
AU - Vanpatten, Bill
AU - Borst, Stefanie
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - In this study, we examine explicit information and aptitude within processing instruction. Forty-six learners of German in their third semester of study were divided into two groups: those who received explicit information prior to treatment (+EI) and those who did not (-EI). Participants also took the grammatical sensitivity portion of the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Treatment consisted of structured input activities in which learners heard a sentence and indicated comprehension by selecting between two drawings. The processing problem was the First-Noun Principle, and the target structure was nominative-accusative case marking on masculine nouns in object-verb-subject and subject-verb-object sentences. Treatment was delivered via computer (SuperLab 4.0). The measurement taken was trials to criterion: how long it took participants to begin processing sentences correctly. Results revealed that the +EI group began processing sentences correctly before the -EI group. As for aptitude, grammatical sensitivity correlated weakly with the scores in the +EI group, but not in the -EI group.
AB - In this study, we examine explicit information and aptitude within processing instruction. Forty-six learners of German in their third semester of study were divided into two groups: those who received explicit information prior to treatment (+EI) and those who did not (-EI). Participants also took the grammatical sensitivity portion of the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Treatment consisted of structured input activities in which learners heard a sentence and indicated comprehension by selecting between two drawings. The processing problem was the First-Noun Principle, and the target structure was nominative-accusative case marking on masculine nouns in object-verb-subject and subject-verb-object sentences. Treatment was delivered via computer (SuperLab 4.0). The measurement taken was trials to criterion: how long it took participants to begin processing sentences correctly. Results revealed that the +EI group began processing sentences correctly before the -EI group. As for aptitude, grammatical sensitivity correlated weakly with the scores in the +EI group, but not in the -EI group.
KW - Aptitude
KW - Explicit information
KW - German
KW - Processing instruction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864073804&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2012.01169.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2012.01169.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84864073804
SN - 0015-718X
VL - 45
SP - 92
EP - 109
JO - Foreign Language Annals
JF - Foreign Language Annals
IS - 1
ER -