The effect of syntactic pattern frequency on recall : a comparison of native and non-native speakers of English as a function of progressive experience in the acquisition of English as a second language
Date
1974
Authors
Kurth, Erika Miriam
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Abstract
An experiment was performed to establish the effect of the 'relative frequency of syntactic patterns on recall and to identify differentiating levels in the linguistic behaviour of native speakers of English and speakers with differing backgrounds and at different stages of acquiring English as a second language. A set of 36 sequences, systematically varied in regard to high or low frequency of occurrence statistically quantified for Canadian English, order of presentation, and length of delay task, was presented in writing, in one of two counterbalanced arrangements of 18 sequences, to each of 64 university students. The subjects were instructed to reproduce the stimuli in writing on signal after a distracting task of counting aloud backwards from 100; the delay intervals were 6 seconds and 20 seconds. There were four groups of 16 students, differentiated as to native language, length of experience in English, and linguistic background, which were tested in a two within and two between 2x2x4x2 design with two repeated measures.
The results supported the hypothesis that high frequency of occurrence would facilitate recall. Significantly superior scores were obtained in the reproduction of high frequency than of low frequency syntactic patterns for all subjects (p<.0001). As expected, performance following the short delay task revealed a significant increase in recall compared to the long interference task at the p<.0001 level. In respect to order of presentation and a possible practice effect for the second of the two tests each subject performed results showed that only when the long delay task was done first and the short delay task second did a significant improvement in recall occur, at the p<.0001 level. (A slight improvement, but of no significance, was noted when the short task preceded the long task.)
The study also demonstrated differentiating levels of performance for the four linguistic groups at p<.008. The native Canadian English speakers achieved a significantly higher recall than two non-native groups of linguistically unrelated speakers, divided by length of experience into junior and senior. The fourth group of French Canadian speakers did not differ significantly from the native speakers of English, attesting to the shared linguistic and cultural features of the two related languages, English and French. Only on the purely vocabulary measure did the more experienced senior non-native group achieve recall of similar rank to the French Canadian and less different from the native speakers. Syntactic patterning was shown to be a more elusive feature of the language than vocabulary per se.
Finally the parameter of the high to low frequency recall differential was found to be a sensitive indicator of length of experience in English, regardless of actual rate of recall. The length of experience was reflected more nearly as the differential became narrower with increasing exposure to English. This was a more effective measure of the degree of linguistic acculturalization and of the levels of linguistic behaviour of the intermediate and advanced student of English as a second language.