Linguistic Proficiency Assessment in Second Language Acquisition Research: The Elicited Imitation Task
Financial support for this research was provided in part by the British Council and the University of Illinois School of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics, and the Department of French. We are grateful to Lourdes Ortega, Pavel Trofimovich, and to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on this work. We would like to thank Frederick Davidson for his guidance, as well as Cori Crane, Zsuzsanna Fagyal, and Peter Golato for discussion. Many thanks go to Christopher Carignan, Liam Moran, and Tim Cunningham for technical assistance. Any error or misunderstanding is of course our own.
Abstract
This study investigated the elicited imitation task (EIT) as a tool for measuring linguistic proficiency in a second/foreign (L2) language, focusing on French. Nonnative French speakers (n = 94) and native French speakers (n = 6) completed an EIT that included 50 sentences varying in length and complexity. Three raters evaluated productions on five scales: meaning, syntax, morphology, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Participants also completed a cloze test and a language background questionnaire. Results from regression and principal component analyses showed a strong relationship between EIT performance and cloze test scores and significant relationships between EIT performance, sentence length, and learners’ knowledge of and experience with French. Ratings were internally consistent, and all test items discriminated well between lower‐ and higher‐level learners. We argue that this EIT exhibits good validity and reliability, discriminates among French learners of different proficiencies, and is a practical tool for L2 proficiency assessment.
Number of times cited: 3
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