The influence of computer‐assisted obligatory processing tasks on L2 Spanish object pronouns

Abstract

Evidence that L2 learners of Spanish overgeneralize indirect object pronouns (OPs) to direct object contexts with human referents and direct OPs to indirect object contexts with nonhuman referents has been provided by Zyzik (2006), Malovrh (2008), and Olsen and Juffs (2022). However, the effect of instruction on this phenomenon has not been investigated. This study addresses the influence of instruction on preempting (Rutherford, 1989) an Animacy‐based system in L2 learners of Spanish by investigating whether instruction led learners to use a Case‐based OP system rather than an Animacy‐based system and at what level instruction was most beneficial. Data were collected from 115 L2 learners divided into two groups (instructed and control) who completed comprehension and production tasks at two different times (pretest, posttest). Between the pretest and posttest, learners in the instructed group received instruction on Spanish OPs using the PACE model for grammar instruction. Results from mixed analysis of variances indicate preemption of an Animacy‐based system in both learner groups. This finding is taken as evidence that the tasks themselves led learners to change their OP systems by forcing learners to process the object pronouns and notice additional possible contexts.