The Impact of Syntactic Priming on English Language Learners' Production: A Transfer Study of Indirect Questions/Requests

Syntactic priming has been the focus of studies with children (e.g., Garrod & Clark, 1993; Fisher, 2002), aphasiacs (e.g., Saffran & Martin, 1997), bilinguals (e.g., Bernolet, Hartsuiker, & Pickering, 2007; Schoonbaert, Hartsuiker, & Pickering, 2007), and second/foreign language learners (e.g., Gries & Wulff, 2005; McDonough, 2006). To address the first research question, which asked about the occurrence of syntactic priming in L2, the data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 analysis of variance with score as the dependent variable and group (Experimental and Control) and proficiency (High and Mid) as independent variables. In addition to language production, syntactic priming has been researched with respect to issues such as first and second language comprehension, language processing, the mental representation of language among native speakers, bilinguals, and second language learners, and last but not least the impact of syntactic priming on retention or learning. [...]these results support previous research on syntactic priming among second/foreign language learners, especially Kim and McDonough (2008) who showed the impact of syntactic priming on Korean speaking L2 learners of English production of passive structure.