Reza Biria - ph.D Department of English, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Ahmad Ameri Golestan - Ph.D Department of English, Majlesi Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

This study examines the impact of syntactic priming on the production andretention of indirect questions by Iranian learners of English as a foreign language(EFL). Eighty learners participated in two experiments investigating the impact ofsyntactic priming on oral production and retention of indirect questions.Experiment 1 showed that priming resulted in increased production of the targetstructure by the Experimental groups as compared with production by theControl groups. Experiment 2 showed that the rate of production of the targetstructure remained significantly higher for participants in the Experimentalgroups one day later.

syntactic priming, language production, retention, language learning