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Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2002): L2 Links edited by Juana M. Liceras, Helmut Zobl, and Helen Goodluck ISBN 1-57473-401-6 library binding vii + 360 pages publication date: 2003 published by Cascadilla Proceedings Project, Somerville, MA, USA Table of contents Abstract Joyce Bruhn de Garavito Learners' Competence May Be More Accurate Than We Think: Spanish L2 and Agreement Morphology 17-23 (complete pdf) This paper looks at the acquisition of verbal agreement morphology in Spanish as a second language. This area is important within the Minimalist framework of linguistics because it relates to learners' competence in the domain of functional categories. The study compares results of an elicited production task and a recognition task to determine how accurate second language learners are on marking agreement. The subjects were English L1 speakers learning Spanish at the beginner's level. Results show the participants were twice as accurate on the recognition task, which has a lower processing load. Overall the number of errors was very low, under 7%. The most common error found was the replacement of different person agreement forms by the third person singular, which is not marked overtly for person. |