The use of grammaticality and metalinguistic judgement tests in second language acquisition (SLA) research has been the subject of considerable scrutiny over the past decade (see, for example, Chaudron, 1983; Birdsong, 1989; Ellis, 1991; Cowan and Hatasa, 1994; Gass, 1994; Davies and Kaplan, 1998).Grammaticality judgement (GJ) test data in research design are used to make inferences about the syntactic structures and rules that constitute learners’ linguistic competence, in the Chomskian sense of the word. One criticism levelled at the use of this type of test, however, is that they are not reliable measures of linguistic competence. The present study compared GJ test data with dehydrated sentence (DS) test data, an assessment tool commonly used in the L2 (second language) classroom. Data were collected from three levels (second, fourth and sixth semester) of adult L2 learners of Spanish about verb movement (Vmovement). The results from the comparison of the two tests indicated that GJ data are reliable measures of linguistic knowledge.
A number of recent articles have examined the motivation, purpose of study, and demographics of first‐ and second‐year language learners of French or Spanish (see, e.g., Ossipov, 2000; Rava, 2000; Voght, 2000; Wen, 1997) This study surveyed the make‐up of a sample of first‐and second‐year university‐level Spanish learners at a major postsecondary institution in a city with a substantial, growing population of monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers. The results of the survey were used to address questions about learner preparation prior to entering a four‐year university course of study, preferred and desired activities in the current curriculum, and motivations for the study of Spanish. Generalizations about the nature of the typical learner in this context and the implications of the appreciation of and desire for grammar‐related and communicative activities — as expressed by the respondents — in the contemporary liberal arts curriculum are discussed.
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