611
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2014, 36, 611–645.
doi:10.1017/S0272263113000727
© Cambridge University Press 2014
INCIDENTAL EXPOSURE AND L3
LEARNING OF MORPHOSYNTAX
Sarah Grey
Georgetown University
John N. Williams
University of Cambridge
Patrick Rebuschat
Lancaster University
Evidence of learning following incidental exposure has been found
for aspects of nonnative syntax in adults (Rebuschat & Williams, 2006,
2012; Williams & Kuribara, 2008). However, little research has tested
delayed effects of learning under an incidental condition or moved
beyond word order. This study investigated learning of third language
(L3) morphosyntax (word order and case marking) under an inciden-
tal exposure condition. Participants were second language Spanish
learners exposed auditorily to a semiartificial language, Japlish, during a
semantic plausibility judgment task. Performance following exposure
to L3 Japlish was assessed with acceptability judgment and picture-
matching tasks that were administered immediately after exposure
and 2 weeks later. Results on immediate tests showed a significant
learning effect on acceptability judgment but none for picture matching.
At delayed testing, results showed maintenance of the learning effect
on acceptability judgment and significantly improved performance
on picture matching. Results additionally showed that many of the
learners arrived at the correct Japlish word-order rule; fewer did so
for case marking. Follow-up analyses indicated that this rule knowledge,
Sarah Grey is now at Pennsylvania State University.
The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sarah Grey, Pennsylvania
State University, Department of Psychology, 140 Bruce V. Moore Building, University Park,
PA 16802. E-mail: seg24@psu.edu