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ELICITED IMITATION: A TEST FOR ALL LEARNERS?

EXAMINING THE EI PERFORMANCE OF LEARNERS WITH DIVERGING EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2020

Bart Deygers Open the ORCID record for Bart Deygers [Opens in a new window]
Bart Deygers*
Affiliation:
Ghent University
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Professor Bart Deygers, Ghent University, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. E-mail: bart.deygers@ugent.be
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Abstract

Elicited imitation (EI) is a much-used measurement instrument in applied linguistics, and it is considered a reliable and quick assessment of holistic speaking ability and implicit grammar knowledge. To date, however, EI research has overwhelmingly relied on highly educated participants. Only a few small-scale EI studies in applied linguistics have considered low-literate learners. Using Item Response Theory (IRT) and inferential parametric and nonparametric statistics, this study examined the EI performance of 113 L2 learners of Dutch with diverging educational backgrounds. All participants were enrolled in A1 and A2 Dutch L2 courses. Additionally, this study examined to what extent EI performances align with standardized tests of speaking and receptive vocabulary. The results indicate that EI can be used with both highly literate and low-educated participants, who will—however—be outperformed by higher educated learners. Especially the repetition of sentences containing pseudowords appears to result in substantial performance differences between the two groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , December 2020 , pp. 933 - 957
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We would like to thank the editor and reviewers for a thorough and constructive review process. This study was funded by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) under grant number 12Q6717N.

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