TY - JOUR
T1 - The link between morphosyntactic accuracy and textbook presentation
T2 - The morphosyntax of subject-verb agreement in Arabic
AU - Azaz, Mahmoud
N1 - Funding Information:
This research would not have been possible without the support of the research participants and instructors at the University of Arizona. I am also grateful to Anne Nerenz, Luke Plonsky, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. All remaining errors are mine. This research was funded by a Faculty Seed Research Grant from the Office for Research, Discovery and Innovation at the University of Arizona.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - The acquisition of morphosyntax presents challenges for learners of all second/foreign languages. This cross-sectional study investigated English-speaking learners’ morphosyntactic accuracy in the symmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in subject-initial sentences) and in the asymmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in verb-initial sentences) in Arabic. In addition, it examined the extent to which their accuracy rates were reflected in implicit exposure to and explicit presentation of those structures. The results of a prompted production task showed that first-, second-, and third-year learners exhibited low morphosyntactic accuracy rates only in the asymmetrical type. In addition, the production of Group 2 (second-year) and Group 3 (third-year) was patterned after that of Group 1 (first-year) in the symmetrical type but exhibited greater variation in the asymmetrical type. Implications for explicit textbook presentation and instruction of morphosyntactic intricacies are discussed.
AB - The acquisition of morphosyntax presents challenges for learners of all second/foreign languages. This cross-sectional study investigated English-speaking learners’ morphosyntactic accuracy in the symmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in subject-initial sentences) and in the asymmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in verb-initial sentences) in Arabic. In addition, it examined the extent to which their accuracy rates were reflected in implicit exposure to and explicit presentation of those structures. The results of a prompted production task showed that first-, second-, and third-year learners exhibited low morphosyntactic accuracy rates only in the asymmetrical type. In addition, the production of Group 2 (second-year) and Group 3 (third-year) was patterned after that of Group 1 (first-year) in the symmetrical type but exhibited greater variation in the asymmetrical type. Implications for explicit textbook presentation and instruction of morphosyntactic intricacies are discussed.
KW - Modern Standard Arabic and dialects
KW - grammar
KW - grammatical accuracy
KW - learning/acquisition
KW - second language
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U2 - 10.1111/flan.12367
DO - 10.1111/flan.12367
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055287169
SN - 0015-718X
VL - 51
SP - 831
EP - 851
JO - Foreign Language Annals
JF - Foreign Language Annals
IS - 4
ER -