Document Type
Report
Publication Date
1992
Publication Title
ERIC Document
Volume
ED 352 695
Pages
1-14
Abstract
A study investigated whether imitation plays a significant role in the acquisition of grammar. Three 6- to 8-year-old hearing-impaired children were administered the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language--Simple Sentence Level Test (GAEL), which is designed to evaluate hearing-impaired children's use of grammatical aspects of spoken and/or signed English. Subjects' verbal responses to the "imitated" component (in which subjects were asked to say just what the tester said) of the GAEL were transcribed and analyzed. Results indicated that imitated speech is neither longer nor grammatically more advanced than non-imitated, spontaneous speech. Findings suggest that the children produced "unique" language structures to assimilate the adult form in their language without abandoning their own system of language. (Two tables of data are included.)
ERIC Document - ED 352 695
Original Publication Citation
Gupta, A. (1992). Role of Imitation in Language Assessment Tests. (ED 352 695)
Repository Citation
Gupta, Abha, "Role of Imitation in Language Assessment Tests" (1992). Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications. 9.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/teachinglearning_fac_pubs/9
Included in
Education Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Reading and Language Commons