Elicited imitation as a diagnostic tool of morpho-syntactic processing

This chapter evaluates the Elicited Imitation (EI) test as a tool to assess learners’ morpho-syntactic processing abilities. Within the VILLA project, the treatment of the nominative/accusative opposition by 17 Italian L1 initial learners of Polish L2 is observed on the one hand in an EI test paired with a comprehension test and on the other hand in free production. The EI test regularly elicits more accurate output than free production. We argue that this is not because learners simply repeat strings of sounds with no underlying processing but because of the lower communicative pressure exerted by the structured task. Although EI is not equivalent to spontaneous production, it may well represent a good compromise between ecological validity and practicality.