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Part of
Methods in Study Abroad Research: Past, present, and future
Edited by Carmen Pérez-Vidal and Cristina Sanz
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 4] 2023
► pp. 239–263

Chapter 10
Grammatical development during study abroad

Approaches and methods

| University College Cork

This chapter considers how study-abroad research has investigated different dimensions of grammatical development in learner processing, comprehension, knowledge and production. The chapter looks at the principal instruments and methods used, reflecting different theoretical paradigms. There follows a reflection on what the instruments and methods reveal about grammatical development in a study abroad context, and a critique of the methodological and developmental insights in the context of the diversity of findings on what is learnt at a grammatical level during study abroad and how it is investigated. The chapter ends by considering these limitations and offers a roadmap for future research.

Keywords: processing, error, form-function, grammatical judgement test, acceptability test, markedness, saliency, usage-based approaches, variability, typology
Article outline
  • Introduction: Concepts and questions surrounding grammatical development during study abroad
  • Approaches and methods: Grammatical processing, comprehension, knowledge and production during study abroad
  • From instrument to analysis
    • Complexity and accuracy
    • Variationism: Modelling grammatical variation
    • Grammatical comprehension and knowledge
    • Grammatical processes and processing
  • Investigating grammatical development during study abroad: A critique
  • Future directions
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 3 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.4.10how
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