Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T14:18:00.348Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A method for measuring the attrition of communicative competence: A pilot study with Spanish L3 subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Constancio Nakuma
Constancio Nakuma*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
*
Department of Romance and Asian Languages, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0460
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article introduces, illustrates, and discusses a method for measuring the attrition of communicative competence using data from spontaneous, freestyle, multiperson conversations. The illustration is based on speech production data of Spanish L3 subjects' from Ghana. The method involves the creation of a multiple-factor (composite) index using defined temporal variables, frequency counts of selected verbal behaviors, and grammatical information; it can be used to measure either the rate of attrition or its reverse, which, for lack of a better term, is called the “accumulation of competence.”

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 219 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andersen, R. W. (1982). Determining linguistic attributes of language attrition.In Lambert, R. D. & Freed, B. F. (Eds.), The loss of language skills (pp. 83–119). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Bahrick, H. (1984). Fifty years of second language attrition: Implications for programmatic research. Modern Language Journal, 68, 105–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Bot, K., & Weltens, B. (1988). Recapitulation, regression, and language loss. In Seliger, H. & Vago, R. (Eds.), First language attrition: Theoretical and structural perspectives.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dechert, D. W., & Raupach, M. (Eds.). (1980). Temporal variables in speech: Studies in honor of Frieda Goldman-Eisler. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginsberg, R. B. (1986). Issues in the analysis of language loss: Methodology of the Language Skills Attrition Project. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 19–36). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Griffiths, R. T. (1991). Pausological research in an L2 context: A rationale and review of selected studies. Applied Linguistics, 12, 345–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaspaert, K., Kroon, S., & Van Hout, R.. (1986). Points of reference in first language loss research. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 37–52). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Lambert, R. D. (1989). Language attrition. In Bot, K. De, & Clyne, M., Van Els, T. (Eds.),ITL review of Applied Linguistics (pp. 83–84). Leuven: ITL.Google Scholar
Lambert, R. D., & Freed, B. F. (Eds.). (1982). The loss of language skills. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Menn, L., & Obler, L. K. (1988). Agrammatical aphasia: A cross-language narrative sourcebook. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Olshtain, E. (1986). The attrition of English as a second language with speakers of Hebrew. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 185–204). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Pan, B. A., & Gleason, J. B. (1986). The study of language loss: Models and hypotheses for an emerging discipline. Applied Psycholinguistics, 7, 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoenmakers-Klein, Gunnewiek M.. (1989). Structural aspects of the loss of Portuguese among migrants: A research outline. In Bot, K. De, Clyne, M., Van Els, T. (eds.), ITL review of Applied Linguistics (pp. 99–124). Leuven: ITL.Google Scholar
Seliger, H., Vag, R. (1991). First language attrition: An overview. In Seliger, H.Vago, R. (eds.), First language attrition (pp. 3–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharwood, Smith M.. (1983). On first language loss in the second language acquirer: Problems of transfer. In Gass, S.Selinker, L. (eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 222–231). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Van Els, T.. (1986). An overview of European research on language attrition. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., Van Els, T. (eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 3–18). Dordrecht:Foris.Google Scholar
Van Els, T., Weltens, B. (1989). Foreign language loss research from a European point of view. In Bot, K. De, Clyne, M., Van Els, T. (eds.), ITL review of Applied Linguistics.(pp. 19–35). Leuven: ITL.Google Scholar
Weltens, B. (1988). The attrition of French as a foreign language. Dordrecht, RI: Foris.Google Scholar
Weltens, B., De Bot, K., Van Els, T. (Eds.). (1986). Language attrition in progress. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar