Second language instruction increases the rate of acquisition of English relativization by ESL learners¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 1991 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The study's headline finding is that SL instruction is effective. → Catherine Doughty 1991

Evidence¶

Catherine Doughty 1991¶

Catherine Doughty. (1991). Second Language Instruction Does Make a Difference: Evidence from an Empirical Study of SL Relativization. SSLA, 13, 431-469. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100010287

q3 · i? · causal · r?

The article's abstract announces the study's first headline finding, that the empirical results "show that SL instruction is effective" for acquisition of the instructed grammatical subsystem.

"This article presents the findings of a recent empirical study which (a) show that SL instruction is effective"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Reading and Language — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Formally instructed learners proceed further down the Accessibility Hierarchy in ultimate attainment of relativization than untutored learners (review-reported, citing Pavesi 1986) — related
• Markedness theory, as realized in the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy, plays an important role in instructed interlanguage development — a broader claim this one bears on
• Attention to form via structural analysis or via highlighting structures in context promotes interlanguage grammar acquisition, but only highlighting in context comes with comprehension of input — a broader claim this one bears on
• Comprehensible input alone is insufficient for acquisition of high levels of grammatical proficiency — related
• Between-class differences in structural accuracy were attributed, with some evidence, to differences in teachers' form-focused instruction — related