L2 retention and attrition by Korean returnees

Abstract

This paper examines the maintenance and decline of L2 knowledge over time among Korean/English bilingual children. The purpose Of the study is to examine (1) what aspects of English morphology and syntax undergo positive or negative changes over time and (2) whether the regression hypothesis holds. The study is based on an experiment in which subjects were tested and re-tested on a wide variety of structures of English grammar in a comprehension test. A pre-test was given to 9 Korean/ English bilingual children 6 months after they returned to their LI environment and a post-test to the same subjects one and a half years later. These subjects, aged from 9;0 to 12;11, had been exposed to English for two to six and a half years. The results showed that while most of the morphological and syntactic areas were well retained over time, plural was most susceptible to attrition. The results did not provide any conclusive evidence on the regression hypothesis; instead of our predictions, little attrition took place over one and a half years.