Bialystok's 'processing continuum model': a 'cognitive' approach to patterned variation in SLA

Abstract

This paper reports a study which, applying Bialystok's framework for analysing Rask variation, investigates the proficiency of 52 English learners of Spanish at two different levels -advanced and intermediate with regard to four Spanish conjunctions across the following Rask conditions judging grammatical sentences (GRIGRJ, judging ungrammatical sentences (UNG/UNG). correcting ungrammatical urrerances (UNG > GRJ, and translating orally (OTJ. Al1 the racks presented the some linguistic context and were carried our under similar conditions. Results of the study provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that the utterances of second language learners show a systematic variability related to Rask. The study also shows that such variability may be related to the different demands each Rask imposes on the learners' ability to analyse linguistic knowledge and/or on their ability to control the access to that knowledge. Moreover, we attempt to argue that Bialysrok 'S use of the notions of "analysis" and "control" blurs the traditional distinction "competence/performance, much in the line of Cognitive Linguistics analyses.