| Learning a second language involves acquiring skill knowledge as well as underlying linguistic knowledge (de Bot, 1996; Nobuyoshi & Ellis, 1993). One type of skill knowledge, automaticity, has been characterized by the power law of practice, skill-specificity, and load independence, and has been operationalized as a decrease in reaction time, error rate, and interference from simultaneous tasks (DeKeyser, 1997, 2001). However, there have been relatively few studies on automaticity in SLA, especially on the acquisition of morphosyntactic rules (Robinson & Ha, 1993; Robinson, 1997; DeKeyser, 1997).; The current study explored the effect of input and output practice on the automatization of three Korean morphosyntactic rules: word order (SOV), case-marking for nominative (-ka) and accusative (-reul), and classifier constructions. Twenty-eight native speakers of English were assigned into input and output groups to carry out 15 learning, practice, and test sessions over a 5-week period. Their performance was analyzed in terms of reaction time, error rate, and length of time of speech in a dual-task condition. Within group analysis of the practice and test data was carried out to determine whether automatization had occurred. Between group analysis of the practice and test data was carried out to determine whether automatization was skill-specific in production and comprehension. The findings showed that gradual automatization took place through practice, following a power law pattern (Logan, 1988b), and that automaticity was acquired through skill-specific processing. The findings are discussed in relation to their theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications. |
