Language aptitude is known to be a strong predictor of success in late secondlanguage (L2) learning in instructional settings but is generally assumed to be irrelevant
for native language (L1) acquisition. We investigated the relationship between language
aptitude and L1 grammatical proficiency in the two studies reported here. Language
aptitude was measured by means of a newly-developed test of grammatical sensitivity
(Studies 1 and 2) and the Language Analysis subtest of the Pimsleur Language ...
Language aptitude is known to be a strong predictor of success in late secondlanguage (L2) learning in instructional settings but is generally assumed to be irrelevant
for native language (L1) acquisition. We investigated the relationship between language
aptitude and L1 grammatical proficiency in the two studies reported here. Language
aptitude was measured by means of a newly-developed test of grammatical sensitivity
(Studies 1 and 2) and the Language Analysis subtest of the Pimsleur Language Aptitude
Battery (Study 1), whereas grammatical proficiency was assessed by a grammaticality
judgment task in Study 1 and a picture selection task in Study 2. The results of the two
studies reveal a robust relationship between language aptitude and L1 grammatical
proficiency that is remarkably consistent across different measures for both variables
and appears to hold across the board for a variety of grammatical structures. These
results fit well with the proposal that explicit learning may play an important role not
only in adult L2 learning but also in L1 acquisition and raises questions about the validity
of arguments for a fundamental difference between L1 and L2 acquisition based on the
premise that only the latter is related to aptitude.
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