Syntactic Development of Right-Brain and Left-Brain Dominant Iranian EFL Learners: Processability Theory in Perspective

Abstract

Processability Theory, a component of the cognitive approach to second language acquisition tries to enhance understanding of how the interlanguage knowledge systems can be restructured by second language learners. The present study intended to run an investigation into the syntactic development of Right-Brain and Left-Brain Dominant Iranian EFL learners based on Processability Theory. Iranian university students took part in this study. They received a Demographic Questionnaire, the Hemisphere Dominance Inventory (DHI), a validated researcher-made grammar test designed based on the stages of Processability Theory. To analyze the data classical item analysis was used. Results pertained to the research questions revealed that the stages predicted by Processability Theory did not account for the Iranian Left and Right-Brain Dominant EFL learners in learning syntax. Results of this study indeed showed that the difficulty level of different grammatical structures presented by Pienemann in PT did not match the difficulty order obtained in this study by Left and Right-Brain Dominant EFL respondents.