Abstract
PURPOSE: The author presents a tutorial on structural priming and its relevance to the study of grammatical development and language intervention. METHOD: The findings from structural priming studies are examined from the standpoint of the types of changes that occur in participants' language use, the contexts in which these changes occur, and the effects of these changes on participants' language knowledge. Details of children's grammatical development and language intervention are then considered in light of these findings. RESULTS: Evidence from the structural priming literature provides insight into the transition from early conservative grammatical use to broader abstract grammatical use in young children, and suggests ways in which language intervention activities can be modified to promote greater grammatical change in children with language impairments. CONCLUSIONS: Structural priming is not divorced from everyday language use. Evidence from priming research can be put to use in the study of children's grammatical development and in shaping the methods that are used to facilitate children's grammatical abilities.