Collaborative Syntactic Priming Activities and EFL Learners’ Production of Wh-questions

Syntactic priming is the tendency for a speaker to produce a structure that was encountered in recent discourse and is measured by calculating how frequently speakers use the modelled structures as opposed to alternatives. Recent lab-based studies have shown that carrying out syntactic priming activities with trained interlocutors positively affects Thai EFL learners’ subsequent production of wh-questions. The current study explores whether carrying out priming activities with peers in a classroom context also facilitates subsequent production. In their integrated skills English course, Thai EFL learners (N = 42) either completed collaborative syntactic priming activities or followed the regular curriculum. Analysis of post-test data indicated that learners who carried out the priming activities subsequently produced significantly more wh-questions with supplied auxiliary verbs than learners who followed the regular curriculum. Pedagogical considerations for the use of collaborative syntactic priming activities in L2 classrooms are discussed.