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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
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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

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