CONCORD IN INTERLANGUAGE - EFFICIENCY OR PRIMING

Three positions on the acquisition of grammatical concord in second languages have been articulated in previous research, all advocating versions of an efficiency argument-that learners delete redundant elements such as plural morphemes either because of processing, developmental, or situational constraints. The present paper proposes an alternative but potentially complementary view, that priming effects may facilitate language learners' use of concorded grammatical morphemes, particularly in tasks like written composition where language processing and attentional resources can readily be controlled. Results supporting this hypothesis are presented from analyses of 114 compositions written by French and Japanese background learners of English. Relations between efficiency and priming factors in learners' language are discussed in reference to differing task demands for input, output, and interactive language processing, as well as influences of mother tongue, proficiency in the second language, personal and social orientations, and instruction.