Chapter published in:
Widening Contexts for Processability Theory: Theories and issues
Edited by Anke Lenzing, Howard Nicholas and Jana Roos
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 7] 2019
► pp. 73–102

Is morpho-syntactic decoding governed by Processability Theory?

| Free University Brussels
This study focuses on the comprehension of English morphological features by adult learners of English based in Belgium. I explore the relationship between their receptive grammatical processing and identified stages of the emergence of productive capacities using the Processability Theory framework. I problematise the notion of emergence in receptive grammatical processing, including recognising the additional challenges of chance performance. I explore the effects of using different acquisition criteria for the same data comparing the learners’ performance across multiple morphological features in relation to PTs proposed developmental stages. I find no developmental systematicity on any of the measures. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Published online: 28 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.7.04buy
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